MEDIUMSHIP 


FOREWORD  BY 

CORA  L.  V.  RICHMOND 


ITS  NATURE,  LAWS,  DANCERS 
AND  ADVANTAGES 


W.  J.  COLVILLE 


THE  AUSTIN  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 
LOS  ANGELES.  CAL.,  U  S  A 

MARCH  1918 


I  DALE  NEWS,  Inc. 

Lily  Dale,  N.  Y.  <u-s-A-> 


MEDIUMSHIP 

0 

Its  Nature,  Laws, 
Dangers  and 
Advantages 
□ 

W.  J.  COLVILLE 


THE  AUSTIN  PUBLISHING  CO., 
Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  U.  S.  A. 

March,  H)  18 


Copyright  1918,  by 

B.  F.  AUSTIN 


FOREWORD 

By  Cora  L.  V.  Richmond. 

“The  effloresence  of  his  being  blooms 
On  earth,  blooms  splendidly;  like  May  he 
came 

Scattering  rich  flowers  o’er  glens  and  fields 
And  jagged  peaks  and  solitudes;  he  sped 
Like  a  clear  streamlet  o’er  its  rocky  bed, 
That  by  no  torture  can  be  hushed  to  sleep 
But  pours  its  music,  hastening  to  the  deep.” 


Priority  of  acquaintance  with  and  friend¬ 
ship  for  the  one  whose  earthly  name  heads 
this  article  prompted  the  writer  to  send  this 
brief  sketch  to  the  magazine  whose  readers 
have  read  so  many  of  his  valuable  articles, 
and  doubtless  many  of  whom  have  listened 
to  his  inspired  utterances.  I  say  his  earthly 
name.  Only  those  endowed  with  rare  spirit¬ 
ual  insight  can  know  the  larger  name  by 
which  he  is  known  to  spiritual  beings.  All 
can  know,  who  so  desire  and  are  sufficiently 
unfolded  in  spirit,  the  path  of  light  that  he 
left  upon  the  earth  to  guide  them  unto  higher 
and  nobler  views  of  life,  and  unto  knowledge 
of  the  Truths  of  the  Spirit,  his  legacy  of  writ¬ 
ings  and  teachings. 

It  was  during  my  stay  of  three  years 
(1872-1875)  in  Great  Britain,  that  I  was 
invited  to  deliver  mid-week  lectures  in 

3 


4 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


Brighton,  England  (as  I  was  holding  Sun¬ 
day  services  in  London) .  My  host  urged  me 
to  remain  another  day  after  my  meetings 
had  taken  place,  as  some  thing  very  extra¬ 
ordinary  had  occurred.  A  young  lad  had  at¬ 
tended  my  lecture  the  night  previous  and 
heard  the  inspiration  of  the  guides.  Two  or 
three  of  his  boy  friends  had  accompanied 
him,  and  after  the  lecture  they  chalfed  him 
for  being  so  absorbed  in  what  he  had  heard. 
Finally  one  of  them  said  in  a  bantering  man¬ 
ner:  “If  this  trance  speaking  lady  is  true, 
why  don’t  you  go  into  a  trance  and  speak  and 
make  poems?”  Young  Colville  did  go  into  a 
trance  and  spoke  and  “made  poems”  much 
to  the  surprise  and  utmost  terror  of  his  com¬ 
panions.  My  host  had  heard  of  this  and 
urged  me  to  stay  and  hear  and  see  this  lad 
(then  in  his  15th  year).  I  saw  and  heard 
him  and  said  then:  “The  world  will  hear 
from  him  at  no  distant  day ;  he  will  speak  in 
many  lands.” 

In  1877  he  came  to  America.  I  was  glad 
to  introduce  him  to  friends  in  Boston,  New 
York  and  Washington,  and  to  the  summer 
camp  meetings  just  being  started.  No  intro¬ 
ductions  were  needed  after  the  first  hearing, 
and  he  had  more  calls  than  even  he  could  re¬ 
spond  to.  A  few  times  he  spoke  to  my  con¬ 
gregation  in  Chicago,  for  a  month  or  two 
during  my  absence.  Although  speakers 
rarely  meet  in  their  work,  we  were  some 
times  engaged  for  the  same  week  or  so  at  the 
camp  and  summer  assemblies.  There  was 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


5 


always  the  great  appreciation  and  sympathy 
between  us  and  our  work  together  was  pleas¬ 
ing  and  harmonious. 

He  was  apparently  frail  of  body  and  sen¬ 
sitively  strung  like  a  musical  instrument, 
but  the  tense  nervous  and  mental  activity 
(the  prodigious  brain  power)  kept  him  ever 
busy,  busy,  busy.  The  learning,  erudition 
and  depth  of  thought  of  this  young  lad,  “still 
in  his  ’teens,”  was  another  of  those  “knotty 
problems”  that  Spiritualism  has  presented  to 
a  critical  world  to  solve.  Science  has  failed 
to  find  any  other  solution  than  that  claimed 
by  the  Spirit- world.  (Sir  Oliver  Lodge  be¬ 
ing  the  most  recent  of  more  than  two  scores 
of  eminent  scientists  to  proclaim  his  knowl¬ 
edge  of  a  future  life  and  spirit  communion.) 

Mr.  Colville’s  work,  his  urgent  nature  re¬ 
quiring  constant  work,  led  him  into  many 
fields  of  thought,  among  those  who  were  in¬ 
quiring  into  many  subjects  (all  included  in 
Spiritualism) .  He  saw  the  good  that  was  in 
them  and  fearlessly  rejected  anything  not 
perceived  to  be  true. 

Back  and  forth  between  England  and 
America,  and  to  far  Australia  went  our  in¬ 
defatigable  worker.  I  often  called  him  a 
“Spiritual  Shuttle,”  and  what  golden  threads 
he  wove  into  the  dull  warp  of  human  life, 
replete  with  home,  animated  with  the  best 
that  is  in  the  world  and  is  to  come.  This 
broadmindedness  and  versatility  led  many 
to  say :  “He  has  left  Spiritualism  for  The¬ 
osophy;  for  Christian  Science;  for  New 


6 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


Thought.”  Not  so.  He  saw  that  they  had 
come  into  existence  on  the  open  door  that 
Spiritualism  had  revealed  (many  times  bor¬ 
rowing  its  truths)  and  he  could  correct 
many  of  their  errors  by  seeing  and  appreci¬ 
ating  their  truths. 

He  never  “settled  down”  to  a  regular  con¬ 
gregation,  although  working  many  times  for 
a  long  period  in  one  city.  He  preferred 
being  a  “free  lance,”  following  “the  call” 
wherever  it  seemed  best,  whenever  he  was 
needed. 

His  quaint  sense  of  humor  proved  a  real 
“safety  valve” — a  reaction  and  recreation 
from  the  tenseness  of  so  much  work  on  such 
deep  and  profound  subjects.  This  quaint 
humor  we  enjoyed  when  he  was  at  our  home 
and  we  always  joined  in  his  talk,  using  the 
fanciful  names  he  bestowed  on  others  and  on 
himself.  Music  was  his  chief  source  of  rest 
and  recreation,  and  he  frequently  went  to 
Catholic  churches  to  hear  the  music,  leading 
a  few  fearful  ones  to  whisper  “Jesuitical 
influence”?  Never  fear,  his  nature  was  too 
fine — his  life  too  exalted,  and  his  inspirers 
too  wise  and  far  seeing! 

He  was  true  to  his  calling  and  in  his  life, 
absteminous  almost  to  asceticism. 

When  not  under  the  influence  of  his  in¬ 
spirers  he  was  child  like  and  as  I  have  said 
had  a  quaint  sense  of  humor  that  was  a  real 
protection  to  him — for  one  cannot  talk  on 
deep  subjects  continually,  even  when  fol¬ 
lowed  home  from  a  lecture  by  some  listener 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSH1P 


7 


who  wanted  some  passage  explained  or  fur¬ 
ther  elaborated. 

“No  other  like  Colville certainly  not. 
Each  has  his  or  her  place  that  no  one  else 
can  fill — and  his  chosen  work  was  his  life. 
It  is  in  the  world  and  its  radiance  will  be  a 
pathway  of  light  for  those  to  follow  who 
have  seen  and  heard  and  understood,  or  who 
may  hereafter  understand  his  teachings. 

The  following  poem  and  symbolic  name 
was  given  him  by  my  poetic,  inspirer 
(Ouina),  in  the  year  1877.  How  well  it 
shows  the  chosen  work  of  his  life,  and  his 
adaptation  to  that  work  the  reader  can 
judge. 

We  follow  him  in  spirit  to  the  new-found 
state  and  rejoice  in  the  larger  life  and  light, 
light,  light. 

TRUTH’S  EVANGEL 
Poem  and  symbolic  name  given  to 
W.  J.  Colville, 

by  the  poetic  inspirer  of  Mrs.  Cora  L.  V. 

Richmond  (Ouina)  in  the  year  1877. 


Sensitive  as  the  harp  that’s  swung 
By  Aeolus  in  the  summer  breeze, 

When  all  the  forests  are  o’er  hung 
With  verdure  of  entwining  trees. 

Fond  of  the  flowers  of  the  field 
And  garden — all  things  fair  and  bright — 
Each  can  to  thee  rare  pleasure  yield, 

All  nature  gladdens  thy  young  sight. 

I  see  thee  not  “amid  the  throng” 


8 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


Of  those  who  seek  for  worldly  power; 
Thy  spirit  will  attune  its  song 

To  other  themes:  the  Soul’s  blest  dower. 
Thou  has  been  chosen  in  thy  youth 
To  help  to  bear  the  message  forth 
Of  Life  Immortal, — the  living  Truth 
From  realms  above  to  those  on  Earth. 
Music  can  soothe  thee;  and  its  power 
Will  aid  and  strengthen  on  thy  way; 

Will  charm  in  any  weary  hour 
Thy  spirit  by  its  potent  sway. 

From  out  their  Realm  of  Light  and  Love 
The  spirit  messages  appear 
And  ever  on  thy  being  move 

To  teach  of  truth’s  new  dawning  year. 

In  many  lands ;  far  o’er  the  sea, 

And  in  thy  homeland  this  blest  word 
Of  Life  Immortal,  thou  shalt  be 

The  bearer  of  Truth’s  stainless  sword. 

— From  “Reason.” 


MEDIUMSHIP 

* 

LESSON  I. 

ITS  NATURE,  LAWS,  ADVANTAGES  AND 
DANGERS 

The  question  of  mediumship  is  a  very  wide  one 
and  one,  moreover,  which  permits  of  an  immense 
variety  of  definitions  and  interpretations.  In  its 
simplest  and  most  obvious  form,  the  word  only 
signifies  susceptibility  to  various  influences,  both  seen 
and  unseen,  of  which  non-mediumistic,  or  non-sen¬ 
sitive  persons,  remain  permanently  unconscious  on 
account  of  their  temperamental  lack  of  necessary 
sensitiveness.  As  a  transparent  substance  like  glass 
is  a  medium  thru  which  light  and  heat  pass  readily, 
while  an  opaque  substance  like  brick  or  wood  does 
not  permit  of  their  so  ready  passage;  we  may  decide 
that  in  a  typically  mediumistic  organism  there  is  a 
refinement  approximating  transparency  which  ren¬ 
ders  the  medium — otherwise  termed  a  sensitive  or 
psychic — susceptible.  The  utter  spontaneity  with 
which  many  phases  of  mediumship  manifest  them¬ 
selves  has  led  many  investigators  of  psychic  phe¬ 
nomena  to  reasonably  affirm  that  mediumship  must 
be  much  more  of  a  natural  gift  or  endowment  than 
a  result  of  intentional  cultivation  of  any  special  facul¬ 
ties.  A  wise  middle  ground  can  surely  be  taken  be¬ 
tween  extreme  positions,  and,  while  admitting,  in¬ 
deed  definitely  teaching,  that  mediumship  is  essen¬ 
tially  due  to  special  untutored  inborn  sensitiveness, 
it  is  possible  to  assist,  to  a  large  extent,  by  judicious 
culture  in  the  regulation  of  spontaneous  susceptibil¬ 
ity  to  outside  influences. 


9 


10 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSH1P 


Since  the  dawn  of  the  era  of  what  is  definitely 
termed  Modern  Psychology,  much  controversy  has 
arisen  over  the  sources  whence  the  intelligence  eman¬ 
ates,  usually  attributed  to  mediumship  in  general. 
The  theory  of  two  minds,  objective  and  subjective, 
started  by  Thomson  Jay  Hudson  when  he  published 
his  widely  circulated  treatise,  “The  Law  of  Psychic 
Phenomena,”  led  many  enquirers  into  psychic  prob¬ 
lems  during  the  closing  years  of  the  Nineteenth  cen¬ 
tury  to  seriously  dispute  the  old  Spiritualistic  ground 
which  had  successfully  resisted  innumerable  attacks 
made  upon  it  from  various  sources  since  1  848.  For 
a  time  the  two  minds’  theory  threatened  to  alienate 
many  thinkers  from  the  accepted  Spiritualistic  posi¬ 
tion,  but  further  anthropological  researches  have 
served  to  reconcile  seemingly  opposing  views  by 
demonstrating  that  the  one  theory  by  no  means  ov¬ 
erturns  the  other. 

To  the  simple  Spiritualist,  who  attributes  all  psy¬ 
chic  manifestations  directly  and  unquestionably  to 
the  agency  of  so-called  “departed  spirits  the  idea  that 
we  can  communicate  with  each  other  telepathically, 
and  that  many  communications  received  in  a  psy¬ 
chical  manner  come  from  our  incarnate,  not  from  our 
excarnate  friends,  led  to  not  unnatural  consternation 
and  many  have  been  the  vigorous  attempts  made  to 
justify  the  Spiritualistic  view  from  the  dreaded  in¬ 
cursions  of  the  telepathic  theory.  But  we  are  now 
beginning  to  formulate  psychological  statements  of 
so  widely  inclusive  a  character  that,  among  reason¬ 
able  and  learned  students,  controversy  on  this  score 
seems  virtually  at  an  end.  The  literature  of  learned 
societies  engaged  in  Psychical  Research  has  abund¬ 
antly  proved  that  there  is  ample  and  ever  increasing 
evidence  in  proof  of  telepathy  or  mental  telegraphy, 
and  this  rapidly  accumulating  evidence  proves 
that  we  are  now  in  possession  of  powers 
and  faculties  which  we  often  employ  un¬ 
consciously,  but  which  we  can  learn  to  con¬ 
sciously  direct,  thereby  lifting  us  out  of  the 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


I  I 

class  of  the  controlled  into  that  of  self-determining 
co-operators  in  the  work  of  mental  intercommunica¬ 
tion.  Simply  spontaneous  mediumship  is  intensely 
interesting  and  instructive,  and  wherever  it  appears 
it  should  be  respectfully  regarded  and  diligently 
studied;  but  tho  genuine  and  valuable,  it  presents 
drawbacks  as  well  as  advantages,  on  account  of  the 
liability  of  controlled  mediums  to  rest  content  with 
being  simply  receptacles  of  information  from  ex¬ 
traneous  sources  and  therefore  neglecting  their  own 
self-culture. 

Genuine  mediumship  manifests  itself  in  the  form 
of  susceptibility  to  mental  influx  from  incarnate  or 
discarnate  entities,  knowingly  or  unknowingly  on 
the  part  of  the  medium.  In  all  the  phases  com¬ 
monly  termed  Physical,  some  material  objects  are 
employed  in  the  production  of  results.  Inspirational 
speaking  and  writing  may  be  classed  as  entirely 
mental,  while  so-called  automatic  writing  may  be 
termed  psycho-physical.  Such  literary  productions 
as  “Letters  from  Julia,”  by  W.  T.  Stead,  and  “Let¬ 
ters  From  a  Living  Dead  Man,"  by  Elsa  Barker,  may 
fairly  be  regarded  as  results  of  mental  mediumship 
supplemented  by  physical  mediumship  in  some  de¬ 
gree,  for  in  both  those  notable  instances  the  medium 
was  avowedly  influenced  in  both  a  mental  and  a 
physical  manner  by  the  communicating  intelligence, 
and  was  perfectly  willing  that  the  communication 
should  be  made  thru  his  or  her  manual  agency.  The 
much  vaunted  and  greatly  exaggerated  dangers  of 
mediumship  are  by  no  means  confined  to  what  gen¬ 
erally  bears  the  name  of  mediumship.  The  prin¬ 
cipal  dangers,  whenever  and  wherever  they  exist, 
proceed  from  a  lamentable  lack  of  self-assertion  in 
general.  Weak  willed  and  weak  minded  persons, 
who  have  apparently  hardly  any  will  or  mind  of  their 
own,  are  in  a  state  of  chronic  susceptibility  to  what¬ 
ever  influence  may  predominate  in  their  immediate 
surroundings;  therefore,  whether  they  are  confessed¬ 
ly  or  apparently  mediumistic  or  not,  they  are  perpet- 


12 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


ually  swayed  by  wills  and  minds  other  than  their  own 
and,  consequently,  at  all  times  liable  to  be  led  in  any 
direction,  whichever  way  the  prevailing  psychic  wind 
is  blowing.  In  the  case  of  definitely  mediumistic  chil¬ 
dren  we  need  only  to  provide  them  with  the  health¬ 
iest  possible  surroundings  on  all  planes,  moral,  ment¬ 
al  and  physical.  Instead  of  blindly  rebuking  them 
or  hysterically  attributing  their  eccentricities  to  dis¬ 
ease  or  something  else  uncanny,  it  is  necessary  that 
they  should  be  treated  as  delicate  plants  requiring 
special  nurture,  and  most  of  all  protection  against 
inclement  psychic  influences.  This  is  a  general  state¬ 
ment  usually  applicable  to  all  extremely  sensitive 
children,  but  there  are  exceptional  cases  where  me¬ 
diumistic  children  are  unusually  proof  against  suscep¬ 
tibility  to  undesirable  influences  in  general,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  their  being  constantly  surrounded  and  pro¬ 
tected  by  a  powerful  band  of  spiritual  guardians  who 
effectively  shield  them  from  all  liability  to  common 
accidents  and  sickness.  When  a  singularly  sensitive 
child  displays  no  disposition  whatsoever  to  weakness 
or  abnormality,  but  gives  evidence  of  possessing 
some  unusual  gift,  such  a  child  may  well  be  regarded 
as  a  modern  seer  or  sybil  and  deserves  to  be  hon¬ 
ored  as  highly  as  were  the  seers  and  sybils  of  Greece 
in  the  palmiest  days  of  Grecian  culture  and  suprem¬ 
acy. 

Mediumship  when  healthy  and  useful  displays 
itself  in  a  perfectly  orderly  manner,  not  in  any  weird 
display  of  terrifying  or  merely  mystifying  phenom¬ 
ena.  When  unwelcome  disturbances  occur,  either 
mentally  or  physically,  they  should  be  handled  firmly 
and  fearlessly,  but  never  should  any  violent  protest 
be  made  against  a  phenomenon  even  tho  it  be  of  a 
most  unwelcome  character,  because  all  anger,  fear, 
and  other  disorderly  emotions  serve  invariably  to  in¬ 
crease  the  disturbances  we  seek  to  quell.  No  arbi¬ 
trary  classification  of  unseen  influences  into  two  great 
groups  called  Good  and  Evil  can  stand  the  test  of 
reasonable  scrutiny,  for  no  matter  whether  the  com- 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


13 


municating  intelligences  are  incarnate  or  excarnate, 
they  are  simply  human  entities  on  one  or  other  of 
the  many  human  levels  with  which  we  are  all  fre¬ 
quently  brought  into  contact.  Highly  susceptible 
persons,  of  both  sexes  and  of  all  ages  and  all  condi¬ 
tions,  are  influenced  largely  by  the  psychical  con¬ 
tainment  of  their  immediate  environment;  it  there¬ 
fore  often  happens  that  the  influencing  agent  is  not 
so  much  one  particular  individual  who  may  be  defin¬ 
itely  seeking  to  make  a  communication,  as  a  sphere 
of  influence  composed  of  many  entities,  and  of  the 
effluence  proceeding  from  them.  These  are  two  dis¬ 
tinct  senses  in  which  the  word  Sphere  can  be  right¬ 
fully  employed,  viz:  (1)  a  company  of  affinitizing 
individuals,  and  (2)  the  emanations  proceeding 
both  consciously  and  unconsciously  from  such  a  com¬ 
pany.  An  atmosphere  or  photosphere  surrounds 
every  individual,  and,  according  to  its  nature,  it  at¬ 
tracts  and  repels.  There  is  much  more  truth  than 
many  people  have  yet  come  to  perecive  in  the  uni¬ 
versally  proclaimed  doctrine  of  universal  affinity  and 
attraction.  What  we  most  need  is  to  learn  how  to 
make  intelligent  use  of  the  perpetual  operation  of 
this  undeviating  law  of  affinity  and  attraction  so  as 
to  draw  to  us  and  hold  to  us  only  such  influences  as 
we  deem  welcome  and  find  beneficial. 

The  regulation  of  mediumship  is  the  great  need 
among  Spiritualists,  and  among  all  who  seek  to  pur¬ 
sue  a  line  of  experimental  investigation  in  the  ample 
fields  covered  by  the  general  phrase,  Psychical  Re¬ 
search.  The  first  great  lesson  for  a  student  to  learn 
is  that  we  are  not  compelled  to  yield  to  any  influence, 
but  we  are  privileged  to  enjoy  spiritual  intercom¬ 
munion  at  our  discretion.  We  do  not  deny  or  con¬ 
demn  telegraphic  and  telephonic  intercourse  between 
individuals  and  communities  because  we  know  that 
it  needs  intelligent  regulation  and  is  liable  to  abuse. 
No  denunciation  of  natural  powers  and  gifts  will 
ever  do  good,  but  must  ever  prove  grossly  fettering 
and  misleading.  Scientific  research  cannot  be  intimi- 


14 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


dated  by  scarecrows,  but  it  is  legitimate  to  hoist  sig¬ 
nals  and  frankly  point  out  where  difficulties  and 
dangers  lie,  not  for  the  unwise  and  unworthy  pur¬ 
pose  of  preventing  navigation;  but  for  the  sole  pur¬ 
pose  of  assisting  navigators  to  avoid  rocks  and  whirl¬ 
pools,  and  so,  men  can  steer  their  vessels,  that  in  time 
of  tempest  they  may  not  be  submitted  to  shipwreck. 

Mediumship  is  a  fact  in  human  experience  and,  as 
we  are  growing  generally  more  and  more  sensitive, 
we  shall  find  it  continually  on  the  increase.  The 
student’s  task  is  a  plain  and  honorable  one,  and  one 
which  must  prove  of  immense  general  utility,  viz:  to 
face  the  psychic  problem  fearlessly  and  with  noble 
resolution  to  turn  all  experiences  to  account  for  the 
general  as  well  as  for  private  weal.  Cultivate  and 
exercise  all  available  faculties  with  the  single  end  in 
view  of  extracting  from  all  experience  the  boon  of 
added  knowledge,  and  all  knowledge  can  be  rend¬ 
ered  serviceable  for  human  progress. 


LESSON  II. 

Nature  of  Mediumship 

So  much  has  frequently  been  written  and  uttered 
regarding  the  supposedly  unnatural  or  supernatural 
character  of  all  that  stands  out  as  distinctly  psychical, 
that  it  seems  necessary  to  work  to  counteract  many 
false  impressions  widely  afloat  concerning  the  real 
nature  of  those  gifts  and  endowments  which  have 
long  been  classified  as,  not  only  unusual  or  extraor¬ 
dinary,  but  as  actually  beyond  or  outside  of  the  or¬ 
dinary  course  of  natural  procedure.  Words  change 
their  meaning,  not  only  from  century  to  century,  but 
in  much  shorter  periods  of  time;  therefore,  it  has 
occurred  that  within  the  past  few  years  a  great  revo¬ 
lution  in  terminology  has  been  effected,  especially 
with  regard  to  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  once 
called  “supernatural,”  which  is  now  often  desig¬ 
nated  “supernormal”  instead,  a  tentative  word  which 
scarcely  conveys  the  idea  we  are  now  seeking  to 
elucidate. 

In  that  excellent  and  highly  instructive  treatise  by 
William  Howitt,  “A  History  of  the  Supernatural  In 
All  Climes  and  Ages,”  published  in  Philadelphia  in 
1865,  the  learned  author  used  language  in  common 
use  in  his  day,  but  he  gave  to  the  old  theological 
word  “supernatural”  a  far  wider  and  much  more  ra¬ 
tional  interpretation  than  it  had  commonly  received. 

If  that  now  largely  discarded  term  is  still  em¬ 
ployed,  it  must  be  made  to  mean  that  which  per¬ 
tains  to  the  higher  planes  of  nature  rather  than  that 
which  is  really  above  nature,  for  we  cannot  presume 
to  say  how  far  nature  and  natural  law  may  extend, 
therefore,  it  is  the  height  of  presumptuous  folly  to 
dogmatize  concerning  what  may  lie  outside  the 
realms  of  nature,  which  are  immeasurably  wider  than 
common  knowledge  may  suppose. 

All  that  may  fairly  be  classed  as  Spiritual  Medium- 
ship  was  formerly  attributed,  quite  unwarrantably, 

15 


16 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


either  directly  to  Divine  or  else  to  diabolical  agency; 
no  middle  ground  being  perceived  between  the  posr 
sibility  of  direct  intercourse  with  Heaven  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  Inferno  on  the  other.  Now  the  words 
Supernal  and  Infernal  are  in  themselves  easily  ac¬ 
counted  for,  each  being  purely  relative,  as  they  only 
signify  above  and  below  the  particular  estate  which 
is  our  present  normal,  i.e.,  average  or  accustomed 
condition. 

If  we  receive  a  communication  from  a  higher  plane 
of  intelligence  than  one  on  which  we  usually  function 
mentally  or  morally,  it  comes  to  us  from  a  “heaven,” 
and  if  we  get  in  touch  with  a  lower  plane  of  ment¬ 
ality  and  morality  than  one  on  which  we  usually  con¬ 
sciously  dwell,  we  may  be  said  to  receive  influx  from 
a  “hell,”  employing  language  as  used  by  Swedenborg. 

There  are  many  ingenious  theories  invented  and 
industriously  promulgated  to  explain  away  the 
simple  facts  of  mediumship,  but  these  curious  sub¬ 
stitute  theories  are  far  less  rational  and  far  more 
difficult  to  comprehend  than  the  simple  Spiritualistic 
and  Telepathic  interpretations  which,  when  taken 
together,  account  reasonably  for  practically  all  the 
phenomena  of  an  unusual  character  with  which  we 
are  likely  to  be  accosted. 

The  words  most  frequently  employed  to  designate 
mediumistic  experiences  suggest  nothing  apart  from 
an  extension  of  well-known  faculties.  Clairvoyance 
means  clear  vision  or  extended  vision.  Clairaudi- 
ence  signifies  clear  or  extended  hearing.  Clairsenti- 
ence  means  clear  or  extended  feeling.  Psychometry 
is  a  word  derived  from  psyche  and  metron,  or  metre, 
and  meaning  a  method  of  measuring  psychically  or 
coming  into  conscious  contact  with  what  Professor 
William  Denton  called,  “the  Soul  of  Things,”  a  title 
he  gave  to  a  fine  work  in  three  volumes,  recording 
his  extended  investigations  along  this  fascinating  line 
of  psychical  research. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  history  of  Modern  Spirit¬ 
ualism  very  much  was  said  about  Mesmerism,  and 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


17 


the  familiar  terms  “operator”  and  “subject”  were 
constantly  employed  by  writers  on  mediumship  when 
they  sought  to  define  the  methods  whereby  “spirit 
control”  was  effected.  The  old  word  “control  is 
still  far  too  much  to  the  front  in  Spiritualistic  circles, 
and  it  has  given  rise  to  a  vast  amount  of  opposition 
to  mediumship  on  the  part  of  fair-minded  and  intelli¬ 
gent  persons  who  are  by  no  means  averse  to  the  idea 
of  spirit-communion,  but  who  rightfully  object  to 
the  thought  of  one  individual  being  actually  under 
the  dominion  of  another. 

The  now  popular  word  Hypnotism  has  largely 
supplanted  Mesmerism,  chiefly  because  people  are 
not  properly  called  Mesmerists  unless  they  follow 
the  doctrines  and  practices  of  Anton  Mesmer,  from 
whose  name  the  word  Mesmerism  was  derived  as 
clearly  as  Lutheranism  came  from  Martin  Luther. 

Hypnotism  is  often  closely  associated  with  Medi¬ 
umship,  though  not  always  correctly;  and  hypnot¬ 
ism  itself  is  a  word  of  wide  and  varied  meaning, 
though  its  simplest  and  most  obvious  meaning  is 
sleep-producing  from  hypnos,  sleep. 

Trance  Mediumship  is  a  familiar  term  and  is  often 
applied  to  states  in  which  a  sensitive  person  is  said 
to  be  unconscious,  though  actual  unconsciousness  is 
impossible  to  define.  We  can  be  conscious  on  sev¬ 
eral  distinct  planes  of  consciousness;  we  are  there¬ 
fore  conscious  elsewhere  and  otherwise  than  com¬ 
monly,  when  in  some  unusual  condition,  but  uncon¬ 
sciousness  is  inconceivable  and  no  one  has  ever  at¬ 
tempted  clearly  to  define  it,  except  by  using  the 
word  in  a  sense  entirely  relative. 

Trance  speaking  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most 
convincing  phases  of  mediumship  which  drew  and 
held  the  attention  of  multitudes  of  eager  listeners  in 
the  middle  of  the  1  9th  century,  at  a  time  when  mod¬ 
ern  prophets  and  prophetesses  were  springing  up 
everywhere  and  speaking  as  some  power  beyond 
their  own  volition  gave  them  extraordinary  utter¬ 
ance.  It  is  recorded  of  the  world-famous  Cora  L.  V. 


18 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSH1P 


Richmond,  that,  when  she  was  a  little  girl  (Cora 
Scott),  about  twelve  years  of  age,  a  school  slate 
she  was  handling  became  mysteriously  covered 
with  writing  and  that  she  often  passed  into  a  trance 
condition  and  gave  voice  to  statements  and  lang¬ 
uage  far  beyond  her  training  and  her  years.  Dur¬ 
ing  her  long  career  as  a  platform  orator  this  highly 
gifted  woman  has  stood  up  vigorously  for  “trance 
mediumship,”  persistently  declaring  that  her 
“guides”  have  spoken  through  her  and  that  it  has 
been  they,  not  she,  to  whom  the  marvelous  elo¬ 
quence  which  has  poured  through  her  lips  should 
be  attributed.  Without  questioning  any  of  the  facts 
in  such  cases  we  deem  it  important  to  note  that  there 
was  always  willingness  to  yield  to  spirit-influence  in 
such  instances,  therefore  no  evidence  has  been  fur¬ 
nished  tending  to  suggest  that  the  medium  was  in 
any  way  coerced  by  extraneous  intelligence,  though 
at  first  her  mediumship  was  entirely  spontaneous  and 
unexpected. 

In  the  case  of  members  of  the  family  of  the  dis¬ 
tinguished  Judge  Edmonds  and  other  notable  per¬ 
sonages  who  figured  prominently  in  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  the  same  general  attitude  toward 
those  who  are  now  often  termed  “invisible  help¬ 
ers”  was  continuously  taken,  and  while  there  have 
undoubtedly  been  many  cases  of  actual  “control” 
of  an  uninvited  and  unwelcome  character,  these  in¬ 
stances  belong  in  a  catalogue  of  abnormal  experience 
and  can  be  treated  under  the  head  of  Obsessions, 
which  are  concomitants  of  mental  and  physical  dis¬ 
order  not  to  be  classed  with  any  legitimate  phase  of 
mediumship.  As  tares  and  wheat  may  be  found 
growing  side  bylsidedn  every  field,  it  Should  cause 
no  surprise  that  mediumistic  gardens  are  no  excep¬ 
tions  to  the  general  experience.  It  is,  however,  a 
matter  of  concern  that  we  should  all  put  forth  our 
best  endeavors  to  encourage  only  the  growth  of 
wholesome  fruits  and  thereby  discourage  and  dis¬ 
countenance  the  perpetuation  of  those  abortive 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


19 


phases  of  mediumship,  which  being  only  derange¬ 
ments,  should  be  treated  as  the  pathological  symp¬ 
toms  of  a  subject  which  is  itself  includable  within 
a  study  of  legitimate  psychology.  That  mediumis- 
tic  persons  are  exceptionally  sensitive  to  various 
influences,  both  seen  and  unseen,  is  indubitably  the 
case;  but  sensitiveness  can  be  so  handled  and  di¬ 
rected  as  to  be  made  always  a  blessing,  and  there¬ 
fore  never  a  disadvantage.  Highly  sensitive  chil¬ 
dren  are  often  natural  clairvoyants,  clairaudients  and 
psychometers,  and  while  often  they  do  not  suc¬ 
ceed  well  at  school  and  seem  incapable  of  profiting 
by  ordinary  modes  of  instruction,  they  are  found 
to  absorb  a  vast  amount  of  knowledge  in  a  psychical 
manner  when  placed  in  a  refined  and  educative  men¬ 
tal  atmosphere. 

Spiritual  co-operation  is  a  phrase  which  well  ex¬ 
presses  an  idea  of  intercommunication  between  affin- 
itizing  minds,  and  if  such  language  is  generally  em¬ 
ployed  it  will  go  far  to  put  an  end  to  savage  and 
ignorant  attacks  on  mediumship  made  by  persons 
who,  having  heard  only  of  “control,”  at  once  take 
up  cudgels  against  what  they  feel  must  of  necessity 
be  a  drawback  to  the  cultivation  of  proper  individ¬ 
uality. 

Mrs.  Emma  Harding  Britten  and  many  other 
highly  gifted  inspirational  orators  of  a  past  genera¬ 
tion  of  Spiritualists  always  loudly  proclaimed  that 
they  were  guided,  prompted,  inspired  and  advised 
by  their  spiritual  directors  and  inspirers,  but  never 
forced  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  those 
intelligences.  Indeed,  in  the  two  famous  books  “Art 
Magic,”  and  “Ghost  Land,”  a  very  strong  protest 
was  uttered  against  blind  yielding  to  unseen  influ¬ 
ences  without  the  exercise  of  one’s  own  judgment 
regarding  right  and  wrong  and  the  dangers  of  weak 
surrender  to  hypnotic  influence  was  clearly  demon¬ 
strated. 

It  may  be  fairly  contended  that  no  entity  incarnate 
or  excarnate  can  ever  have  the  right  to  compel  sub- 


20 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


mission,  unless  it  be  in  cases  where  some  one  is  about 
to  commit  a  grievous  crime  upon  another,  in  which 
case  the  exercise  of  forcible  restraint  over  the  wrong¬ 
doer  would  not  be  for  the  purpose  of  curtailing  his 
individual  liberty,  but  solely  for  the  sake  of  protect¬ 
ing  the  freedom  of  another  against  unwarrantable 
assault. 

The  idolatry  of  spirits  which  has  sometimes  been 
displayed, — far  more  in  the  past  than  at  present, — 
grew  manifestly  out  of  a  misconception  regarding 
the  real  nature  and  status  of  the  individuals  on  the 
psychic  plane  with  whom  we  were  holding  inter¬ 
course.  If  people  believe  that  when  they  are  not 
assailed  by  devils  they  are  in  direct  communion  with 
divinely  appointed  messengers, — angels  of  a  race 
vastly  superior  to  the  human, — it  follows  naturally 
that  implicit  confidence  should  be  placed  in  the  ad¬ 
vice  given,  and  unquestioning  obedience  rendered  to 
the  givers;  but  after  this  misconception  has  been  dis¬ 
pelled  and  we  have  come  to  know  that  our  spirit- 
friends  are  of  our  own  veritable  kith  and  kin  we  do 
not  yield  them  blind  homage,  nor  do  we  cry  “avaunt” 
when  we  become  conscious  of  their  approach. 

To  maintain  a  just  balance  between  all  extremes  it 
is  necessary  for  a  sensitive  to  treat  all  unseen  influ¬ 
ences  exactly  as  we  ought  to  treat  our  fellow  beings 
when  we  meet  them  in  ordinary  external  inter¬ 
course. 

Much  stress  is  often  laid  upon  the  alleged  impossi¬ 
bility  of  discriminating  with  regard  to  unseen  influ¬ 
ences,  while  we  can  see  the  persons  who  approach 
us  physically,  and  therefore  it  is  argued,  we  can  be 
on  our  guard  against  undesirable  familiars.  This 
line  of  argument  is  so  pitiably  shallow  and  uncon¬ 
vincing  when  fairly  analyzed  that  we  dismiss  it  with 
a  curt  rebuke  immediately  we  use  our  reason  respect¬ 
ing  our  relations  with  men  and  women  in  the  flesh 
in  the  course  of  ordinary  social  and  business  inter¬ 
course. 

We  all  know  that  forgers  and  all  manner  of 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


21 


swindlers  fatten  upon  the  lack  of  psychic  perception 
or  intuitive  discernment  which  characterizes  their 
unsuspecting  victims.  No  one  would  deliberately 
cash  a  forged  check,  knowing  it  to  be  such;  no  one 
would  invest  in  an  utterly  worthless  proposition, 
knowing  it  to  be  valueless.  How  then,  does  it  hap¬ 
pen  that  so  many  persons  are  daily  duped  by  sleek 
promoters  of  worthless  enterprises  and  how  is  it 
that  counterfeit  money  is  exchanged  for  genuine  cur¬ 
rency  of  the  realm?  All  the  successful  forgers  and 
deceivers  of  all  kinds  are  physically  visible;  they, 
indeed,  take  pains  to  draw  great  attention  oftentimes 
to  their  personal  attractiveness,  and  in  consequence 
of  the  favorable  impression  they  make  externally, 
they  succeed  in  plying  their  nefarious  trade. 

The  only  remedy  for  the  present  wide-spread  lia¬ 
bility  to  deception  is  a  wise  cultivation  of  psychical 
discernment  (the  discerning  of  spirits,  mentioned 
among  other  spiritual  gifts  in  the  1  2th  chapter  of  the 
1st  epistle  to  the  Corinthians).  Blind  persons  are 
frequently  able  to  discriminate  regarding  character 
much  better  than  persons  with  good  bodily  eye¬ 
sight;  that  is  because  the  blind  are  extremely  sensi¬ 
tive  and  trust  to  intuition  far  more  than  do  their 
seeing  comrades.  Feeling  is  a  word  of  immensely 
far-reaching  import,  for  we  feel  all  over  our  bodies 
while  our  other  four  senses, — sight,  hearing,  taste 
and  smell,  are  confined  to  special  organs.  We  often 
hear  sensitives  say  that  they  “sense”  certain  things. 
This  is  rather  a  vague  and  yet  it  is  a  highly  expres¬ 
sive  saying,  for  it  means  literally  that  they  feel, 
all  over  at  once,  and  without  specifying  detailed 
sensations  they  can  only  tell  us  that  they  have  be¬ 
come  aware  that  things  are  so,  and  they  know  not 
just  how  to  describe  the  avenues  through  which  this 
information  has  reached  their  consciousness.  To  be¬ 
come  thus  highly  aware  of  facts  not  detectable 
through  common  outward  channels,  one  requires  to 
live  a  somewhat  secluded  life,  not  necessarily  in  a 
material,  but  certainly  in  a  mental  sense.  To  retire 


22 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSHIP 


into  a  secluded  sanctuary  means  mystically  to  with¬ 
draw  one’s  attention  from  exterior  objects  and  con¬ 
centrate  attention  upon  a  selected  theme  for  medi¬ 
tation,  regardless  of  environment.  It  is  usually  much 
more  easy  to  thus  withdraw  attention  inward  when 
we  are  in  quiet  and  congenial  surroundings,  but  as 
circumstances  are  not  always  entirely  controllable  we 
need  to  have  recourse  to  inward  methods  which  bor¬ 
der  upon  those  practices  which  are  often  classed  as 
Yoga  by  persons  who  delight  in  employing  Oriental 
terminology.  Sensitive  persons  usually  require  more 
quietude  than  ordinary,  and  most  of  all  should  we 
insist  that  mediumship  should  be  cultivated  and  ex¬ 
ercised,  as  far  as  possible,  in  healthful  and  beauti¬ 
ful  surroundings. 

Miscellaneous  developing  circles  in  dark  stuffy 
apartments  are  detrimental  to  health  in  all  directions. 
Natural  darkness  is  not  objectionable,  for  the  night 
is  as  good  as  the  day  and  there  is  a  calm  restfulness 
after  sunset  which  is  often  highly  conducive  to  psy¬ 
chic  culture.  Pure  air  and  cleanliness  in  every  direc¬ 
tion  are  essential  to  the  best  results.  Sufficient  sim¬ 
ple  wholesome  food  and  sufficient  light  comfortable 
clothing  are  requisite,  but  all  heavy  food  and  super¬ 
fluous  apparel  should  be  rigorously  eschewed. 

For  private  exercise  of  mediumship  any  undis¬ 
turbed  atmosphere  may  suffice,  indoors  or  out  of 
doors,  wherever  the  sensitive  feels  comfortable,  and 
to  make  oneself  comfortable  is  very  important,  for 
the  best  results  are  never  forthcoming  when  a  sense 
of  discomfort  obtains. 

As  differing  temperaments  are  benefited  by  dif¬ 
ferent  special  conditions,  much  must  necessarily  be 
left  to  individual  experience  for  decision,  but  certain 
broad  general  rules  can  be  laid  down  which  it  is 
always  well  to  follow. 


LESSON  III. 

Mediumship  and  Self-Unfoldment 

So  many  erroneous  statements  are  often  made  to 
the  effect  that  no  one  can  be  a  medium  and  at  the 
some  time  a  well  developed  individual,  that  we  deem 
it  necessary  to  give  utterance  to  our  most  positive 
views  and  most  definite  knowledge  on  this  highly 
important  topic.  Normal  mediumship  is  used  in  this 
lesson  to  signify  an  exercise  of  mediumistic  ability 
knowingly  and  willingly  without  any  constraint  or 
yielding  of  one’s  sovereign  right  to  decide  what  use 
shall  be  made  of  one’s  organism  or  any  portion  of  it. 

Among  singularly  well  developed  individuals, 
who  not  only  permitted  but  encouraged  mediumistic 
experiences,  the  famous  journalist  William  Thomas 
Stead  stood  forth  conspicuously  as  a  bright  and  shin¬ 
ing  intellectual  and  moral  light.  Mr.  Stead’s  well 
known  experiences  with  inspirational  and  sometimes 
seemingly  automatic  writing  are  too  well  known  to 
need  any  elaborate  description,  for  his  two  extremely 
popular  manuals,  “Letters  from  Julia,’’  and  “How 
I  Know  That  the  Dead  Return,’’  have  been  circu- 
lated  by  hundreds  oF  thousands  of  copies  all  over 
the  world.  It  is  the  attitude  of  the  man  thru  whose 
hand  the  communications  were  written  which  led 
to  the  publication  of  those  treatises  which  now 
chiefly  concerns  us. 

Far  from  being  a  common  type  of  simple  sensi¬ 
tive,  viz:  a  yielding  character  easily  influenced  and 
readily  impressed  from  almost  any  quarter,  the  foun¬ 
der  of  “The  Review  of  Reviews"  was  a  singularly 
determined  and  self-reliant  man;  one  who  would 
steadfastly  adhere  thru  thick  and  thin  to  his  con¬ 
victions,  regardless  of  any  amount  of  opposition  or 
persecution  which  might  be  hurled  against  him.  So 
strong  was  he  in  his  unqualifying  adhesion  to  posi¬ 
tions  he  had  taken  that  he  underwent  imprisonment 
as  well  as  ostracism,  gladly  and  gloried  in  suffering 
for  conviction’s  sake. 


23 


24 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSHIP 


A  man  of  such  stalwart  calibre  is  certainly  no 
weakling,  deficient  in  individuality,  a  mere  subject 
of  extraneous  influences;  on  the  contrary  he  demon¬ 
strates  to  a  highly  uncommon  degree  the  power 
resident  in  human  nature  to  exercise  an  immense 
amount  of  mental  and  moral  freedom  in  the  face  of 
violent  opposition.  When  such  an  individual  de¬ 
velops  and  exercises  mediumship  we  may  rest  as¬ 
sured  that  whatever  is  accomplished  thru  his  organ¬ 
ism  occurs  with  his  full  consent  and,  indeed,  posi¬ 
tively  at  his  desire.  In  all  free  contracts  there  must 
be  two  equally  free  parties,  and  in  the  event  of  nor¬ 
mal  mediumship  this  invariable  rule  is  conspicuously 
demonstrated,  for  there  is  mutual  desire  and  unity 
of  purpose  between  the  seen  and  unseen  parties  to 
the  mediumistic  transaction. 

“Julia,’’  or  some  other  friend  who  has  passed 
to  the  unseen  side  of  life,  wishes  to  convey  a  message 
to  a  mutual  friend  and  requests  Mr.  Stead  to  allow 
her  the  temporary  use  of  one  of  his  hands  for  the 
purpose. 

Without  the  slightest  attempt  at  coercion  she 
requests  a  privilege  and  it  is  granted  at  the  will  of 
the  owner  of  the  hand  lent  for  the  occasion.  Thus 
are  the  communications  made  or  the  messages  trans¬ 
mitted.  When  a  friend  still  in  the  flesh  desires  to 
be  accorded  a  similar  privilege,  that  is  granted  on 
precisely  the  same  conditions;  it  therefore  follows 
that  the  one  making  use  of  the  medium’s  hand  is 
no  more  desirous  of  using  it  than  the  medium  is 
willing  that  such  use  should  be  made  of  it. 

In  the  case  of  trance  and  inspirational  speaking, 
when  a  medium’s  vocal  organs  are  brought  specially 
into  play,  the  mutual  relation  between  guide  and 
medium  are  just  the  same,  for  there  must  be  a 
mutual  understanding  between  the  unseen  inspirer 
and  the  individual  thru  whose  lips  the  oration,  poem, 
or  aught  else  is  voiced.  To  call  all  mediumistic 
processes  disorderly  and  destructive  is  but  to  display 
gross  ignorance  and  blind  prejudice,  and  it  is  indeed 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSH1P 


25 


far  more  repressive  of  a  right  exercise  of  individual 
liberty  to  be  submissive  to  the  arbitrary  dogmatism 
of  anonymous  dictators,  who  write  books  intended 
to  scare  the  timid,  than  to  allow  our  friends,  whether 
incarnate  or  excarnate,  to  make  some  use  of  our 
organism  when  they  and  we  are  mutually  agreed. 
But  while  taking  a  strong  determined  attitude  in 
favor  of  normal  voluntary  mediumship  we  take  an 
equally  strong  position  againts  all  coercive  methods, 
and  we  cannot  conscientiously  endorse  the  pernicious 
habit  sometimes  indulged  by  sensitives  of  laying 
everything  they  say  and  do  to  outside  influences, 
when  it  is  necessary  for  their  own  self-culture  that 
they  should  take  upon  themselves  a  reasonable  share 
of  responsibility  for  whatever  takes  place  thru  their 
instrumentality. 

Three  words:  Normal,  Abnormal,  Supernormal, 
are  frequently  used  to  describe  three  distinct  varie¬ 
ties  of  mediumistic  experiences.  By  normal  is  usually 
meant  simply  the  ordinary  or  usual,  tho  the  word 
normal  properly  includes  all  that  is  healthy.  Abnor¬ 
mal  conditions  are  states  of  disorder  or  disease.  But 
tho  such  is  the  right  use  of  language,  it  was  for  a 
long  time  the  bad  etymological  practice  of  many 
investigators  to  characterize  all  unusual  phenomena 
as  abnormal.  This  misuse  of  a  word  on  the  part  ot 
many  distinguished  authors  and  speakers  of  a  past 
generation  led  inevitably  to  false  views  of  clairvoy¬ 
ance,  clairaudience,  etc.,  on  the  part  of  the  general 
public,  so  much  so  that  even  in  Spiritualistic  circles, 
where  mediumship  was  extolled  and  efforts  made  to 
encourage  its  further  development,  we  often  heard 
of  abnormal  states  when  conditions  were  referred  to 
which  are  now  generally  described  as  supernormal 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re¬ 
search  and  other  scientific  publications  dealing  with 
psychical  phenomena.  Supernormal  is  a  very  much 
better  word  than  abnormal  to  use  in  such  connec¬ 
tions,  but  even  that  needs  explanation,  just  as  super¬ 
natural  requires  to  be  intelligently  explained  or  else 


26 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


discarded.  Normal  is  too  wide  a  word,  and  so  is 
natural,  to  be  relegated  exclusively  to  some  easily 
prescribed  domain.  That  which  appears  supernor¬ 
mal,  and  even  supernatural,  from  a  lower  vantage 
ground  is  seen  to  be  entirely  normal  and  perfectly 
natural  from  a  higher  and  wider  viewpoint.  The 
“astral  realm,’’  about  which  we  hear  and  read  much 
inThese  days,  is  fairly  describable  as  a  much  larger 
realm  than  the  generally  accepted  physical.  It  need 
not  be  thought  about  as  immaterial  or  supermaterial, 
but  only  as  composed  of  finer  grades  of  substance 
than  those  which  make  impressions  upon  ordinary 
physical  senses.  We  can  readily  conceive  of  at  least 
four  distinct  grades  of  substances  present  at  the 
same  time  in  the  same  place,  interpenetrating  each 
the  other.  Ether  is  said  to  be  universally  present  and 
is  never  wholly  convertible  into  gas,  liquid  or  solid; 
therefore,  we  can  readily  picture  to  ourselves  the 
contemporary  presence  of  three  or  even  four  distinct 
grades  of  substance. 

Take  the  familiar  illustration  of  a  piece  of  sponge 
in  a  bowl  of  water  soaked  thru  with  the  water. 
Sponge  is  in  water  and  water  in  sponge  at  the  same 
instant.  Sponge  is  termed  a  solid,  and  water  a  fluid 
substance.  But  we  can  easily  picture  the  presence 
of  ether,  finer  and  subtler  than  either  sponge  or  wa¬ 
ter,  present  in  both,  while  both  are  dwelling  in  its 
embrace.  Ether  must  pervade  the  water  which  per¬ 
vades  the  sponge,  while  the  sponge  is  contained  in 
the  water  which  is  in  turn  contained  in  the  ether. 

We  may  be  conscious  not  only  of  two  but  surely 
of  three  worlds,  or  planes  of  consciousness,  co-exist- 
ently'and  as  we  consider  different  varieties  and  de¬ 
grees  of  mediumship  we  shall  readily  see  that  medi- 
umistic  experiences  can  be  scientifically  and  philo¬ 
sophically  accounted  for  in  a  manner  so  simple  and 
altogether  natural  as  to  disarm  prejudice  among  all 
fair-minded  investigators. 

Charles  Kellogg,  produces  sounds  in  twelve  oc¬ 
taves.  It  is  said  that  the  ordinary  human  ear  cannot 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


27 


hear  all  of  these  tones,  which  are  only  different  rates 
of  etheric  vibration;  but  delicate  apparatus  can 
register  many  more  sounds  than  the  average  ear  can 
detect. 

Mr.  Kellogg  has  trained  his  vocal  chords  to  pro¬ 
duce,  and  his  ears  to  hear  far  more  sounds  than  ordi¬ 
nary  by  living  for  several  years  on  an  average  of 
nine  months  out  of  every  twelve  close  to  the  heart 
of  nature,  on  terms  of  friendly  intimacy  with  birds, 
beasts  and  reptiles,  and  by  subsisting  upon  a  strictly 
vegetarian  diet,  which  is  unmistakably  conducive  to 
rendering  the  physical  organism  more  open  to  deli¬ 
cate  impressions  than  when  a  body  is  built  up  of 
flesh  largely  sustained  by  animal  food.  For  the 
healthy  and  profitable  exercise  of  mediumship  it  is 
imperatively  necessary  that  the  medium  should  be  in 
a  thoroughly  normal  condition  mentally  and  physic¬ 
ally,  for  while  abnormality  does  not  prevent  or  de¬ 
stroy  mediumship  it  perverts  it  to  the  extent  of  ren¬ 
dering  it  fitful  and  unreliable.  Very  many  are  the 
errors  properly  attributable  to  illness  of  mind  and 
body  which  lead  to  misleading  results  and  often  to 
suspicion  of  trickery  being  laid  at  an  innocent  medi¬ 
um’s  door.  We  are  often  apt  to  think  only  of  the 
mental  conditions  necessary  to  secure  the  best  re¬ 
sults,  and  while  these  are  of  primary  importance  it 
is  not  safe  to  ignore  physical  aspects  of  harmony, 
for  mind  and  body  are  far  more  intimately  inter¬ 
locked  and  their  reaction  is  far  closer  than  many 
students  of  psychic  phenomena  know  or  believe. 
The  physique  is,  indeed,  the  most  external  of  our 
bodies  and  therefore  the  furthest  away  from  the 
centre  of  conscious  activity,  but  it  is  thru  this  body 
that  intelligence  on  the  material  plane  must  be  ulti¬ 
mately  expressed,  consequently  it  is  of  high  moment 
that  the  physical  structure  should  be  kept  clean  and 
wholesome  in  all  respects.  For  even  should  the  phys¬ 
ical  body  be  regarded  merely  as  a  window  or  a 
lampglass,  very  much  must  depend  upon  the  integrity 
and  cleanliness  of  such  an  outer  instrument  when 


28 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSH1P 


we  are  considering  the  revelation  of  light  or  general 
clearness  of  vision  which  can  be  ours  in  the  most 
external  world  where  mediumship  is  finally  ulti- 
mated.  Breathing  exercises  when  regular  and  rhyth¬ 
mical  can  be  profitably  employed,  though  it  is 
not  always  necessary  to  teach  regular  breathing,  be¬ 
cause  healthy  children  breathe  correctly  from  nat¬ 
ural  impulse.  Whenever  improper  habits  have  been 
formed  it  is  necessary  to  break  them  up,  and  sys¬ 
tematic  breathing  in  accordance  with  the  simple 
natural  plan  of  breathing,  first  thru  one  nostril  and 
then  thru  the  other  at  regular  intervals,  will  be  found 
extremely  useful  in  inducing  and  restoring  nor¬ 
mality. 

So  very  much  is  constantly  being  said  concerning 
“harmonious  conditions”  that  one  is  inclined  to  ask 
what  constitutes  these  desirable  conditions,  and  sel¬ 
dom  is  any  sufficient  answer  given.  Certain  general 
rules  can  easily  be  laid  down,  but  to  be  truly  prac¬ 
tical  these  rules  must  take  different  temperaments 
into  consideration,  for  above  all  else  it  is  essential 
that  the  state  of  a  sensitive  should  be  entirely  com¬ 
fortable,  or  the  best  results  are  never  forthcoming. 
Reasonable  investigation  can  never  require  that  hu¬ 
miliating  tests  be  applied  to  a  sensitive,  for  any  men¬ 
tal  disturbance  renders  the  annoyed  sensitive  nerv¬ 
ously  upset  and  therefore  in  some  measure  “out  of 
condition.”  Public  demonstrations  of  physical  or 
test  mediumship  are  usually  far  less  than  thoroughly 
conclusive  on  account  of  the  extreme  difficulty  of 
securing  necessary  conditions;  still  enough  may  be 
demonstrated  to  awaken  keen  interest  and  induce 
investigators  to  pursue  their  investigations  much  fur¬ 
ther  in  more  private  places. 

The  Home  Circle  is  a  valuable  institution  when¬ 
ever  rightly  conducted,  but  we  must  guard  against 
inviting  or  requesting  any  person  to  join  it  who 
does  not  wish  to  do  so  or  who  is  not  in  full  accord 
with  the  dominant  motive  for  its  existence.  The  best 
time  for  seeking  mediumistic  development  is  when- 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


29 


ever  no  business  cares  or  domestic  duties  are  press¬ 
ing,  and  when  the  mind  is  able  to  give  itself  unre¬ 
servedly  to  the  work  in  hand. 

As  night  is  the  negative  portion  of  the  twenty- 
four  hours  which  constitute  a  day,  it  often  happens 
that  after  sunset  is  the  most  favorable  time  for 
enjoying  conscious  contact  with  the  spiritual  realms. 
This  is  not  because  our  spiritual  helpers  are  more 
able  to  approach  us  during  darkness  than  when  sun¬ 
light  is  brightly  illuminating  the  rooms  we  occupy, 
but  because  of  our  greater  receptivity  during  the 
negative  period  of  our  day. 

Sleep  is  generally  more  readily  induced  at  night 
than  in  the  brightest  hours  of  day,  but  this  rule  is 
not  invariable,  for  it  sometimes  happens  that  per¬ 
sons  enjoy  their  profoundest  slumber  at  midday 
when  active  duties  compel  them  to  earn  their  liv¬ 
ing  thru  the  night.  It  is  the  reposeful  frame  of  mind 
which  one  enjoys  which  contributes  most  to  all 
truly  desirable  varieties  of  mediumistic  experience, 
and  it  cannot  be  possible  to  enter  fully  into  a  wel¬ 
come  trance  and  thereby  withdraw  consciousness 
from  the  external  place,  while  any  duties  pertain¬ 
ing  to  the  outer  side  of  life  are  demanding  our  atten¬ 
tion.  Though  the  word  Trance  almost  invariably 
suggests  unconsciousness  to  the  untutored  mind,  this 
erroneous  employment  of  the  word  by  no  means 
agrees  with  the  best  ancient  usage.  The  1  Oth  chap¬ 
ter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  contains  a  narrative 
of  Peter  at  Joppa  passing  into  a  state  of  exaltation 
termed  trance,  which  carried  with  it  greatly  ex¬ 
tended  vision. 

The  main  incidents  in  this  remarkable  and  singu¬ 
larly  beautiful  Bible  story  accord  exactly  with  many 
similar  experiences  of  modern  seers,  for  it  is  indeed 
true  that  time  and  place  are  negligible  factors  where 
spiritual  revelations  are  concerned ;  the  only  vital 
matter  being  the  interior  condition  of  the  seer. 

It  is  said  that  Peter  was  hungry  before  passing  into 
the  trance  condition  and  that  he  entered  it  while 


30 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


food  was  in  course  of  preparation.  Lack  of  our 
usual  quantity  of  food  often  aids  interior  vision,  be¬ 
cause  a  clogged  body  is  always  an  impediment. 

Reasonable  abstinence  is  helpful  on  the  path  of 
orderly  psychical  development,  but  no  fasting  which 
injures  or  impoverishes  the  body  can  ever  be  an 
aid  to  genuine  development. 

Mental  aberrations  are  often  mistaken  for  illumi¬ 
nations  and  against  this  fatal  blunder  we  need  to 
carefully  guard ;  but  it  is  not  likely  that  any  disturb¬ 
ance  of  a  serious  character  can  occur  when  we  keep 
our  minds  and  bodies  in  a  state  of  harmony.  The 
widest  spread  delusion  we  encounter  among  sensi¬ 
tive  persons,  not  well  balanced  is  that  of  believing 
that  because  we  have  ignorantly  and  blindly  sub¬ 
mitted  to  undesirable  influences  in  times  past  we  are 
therefore  compelled  to  go  on  thus  submitting.  This 
is  the  crux  of  the  situation  when  cases  of  actual  or 
alleged  obsession  have  to  be  dealt  with,  and  such 
cases  are  never  found  apart  from  some  physical  as 
well  as  mental  or  psychical  disturbance.  It  is  always 
a  moot  question  whether  psychical  discord  occasions 
physical  distemper  or  whether  physical  disease  pro¬ 
duces  psychical  derangement. 

To  answer  that  question  fully  would  require  much 
greater  knowledge  of  the  intimate  connection  be¬ 
tween  mind  and  body  than  is  commonly  possessed, 
but  we  shall  always  find  derangement  of  mind  and 
body  co-existent. 

In  the  1  8th  century  that  famous  American  physi¬ 
cian,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush  of  Philadelphia,  declared 
that  the  influence  of  mind  over  body  was  very  great, 
and  he  added  that  no  one  had  been  able  to  entirely 
estimate  that  greatness.  Though  the  words  were  ut¬ 
tered  considerably  more  than  a  century  ago,  they 
remain  true  to  this  moment;  it  is  surely,  then,  the 
part  of  wisdom  to  do  all  in  our  power  to  keep  men¬ 
tal  and  physical  conditions  strong  and  pure  together 
and,  without  attempting  to  dogmatise  upon  disputed 
questions  in  psychology,  treat  the  human  individual 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSH1P 


31 


as  in  all  cases  practically  a  unit.  There  may  be 
three  or  even  seven  distinct  planes  on  which  the  ego 
operates,  concerning  which  deep  students  of  Occult 
Science  may  speak  confidently,  but  if  that  be  so  it 
still  remains  that  these  planes  are  so  vitally  interde¬ 
pendent  and  interpenetrating  that  the  benefit  of  one 
contributes  to  the  blessing  of  all  and  the  injury  of 
one  to  the  handicap  of  all  in  some  degree  more  or 
less  remote  or  intimate. 

To  attempt  to  develop  psychically  in  discordant 
or  unclean  surroundings  is  distinctly  detrimental  to 
health  in  all  directions.  Pure  air,  simple  agreeable 
food,  appropriate  and  comfortable  raiment,  suffi¬ 
cient  bodily  exercises  and,  as  far  as  possible,  a  life 
free  from  corroding  care  and  distressful  anxiety, 
must  be  maintained  as  a  rule  of  conduct  if  we  are 
to  reap  substantial  benefits  through  mediumship  and 
avoid  the  dangers  into  which  ignorance  and  negli¬ 
gence  often  plunge  the  unwary. 

The  famous  Magic  Staff  of  Andrew  Jackson  Da¬ 
is,”  in  all  circumstances  keep  an  even  mind,”  is  an 
injunction  we  must  insist  on  heeding  whatever  diffi¬ 
culties  beset  our  upward  pathway. 


LESSON  IV. 


Mediumship  Compared  with  Hypnotism  and 
Mesmerism. 

From  the  very  commencement  of  the  modern 
Spiritualistic  Movement  in  1848  many  persons,  some 
friendly  and  others  hostile  to  Spiritualism,  have 
harped  upon  the  resemblance  between  Mediumship 
and  Mesmerism,  and  in  recent  years  many  have 
been  the  books  and  pamphlets  published  warning 
readers  against  cultivating  or  even  allowing  medium- 
ship  on  account  of  the  dangers  of  Hypnotism  with 
which  all  phases  of  Mediumship  are  ignorantly  iden¬ 
tified  by  unknowing  but  extremely  pretentious  au¬ 
thors.  Mesmerism  is  distinctly  the  cult  of  Anton 
Mesmer,  a  man  who  advocated  the  use  of  animal 
magnetism  for  the  cure  of  disease,  and  who  under¬ 
stood  much  concerning  the  manner  in  which  one 
person  can  physically  impress  and  influence  another. 
The  doctrines  taught  and  the  methods  employed  by 
Mesmer  can  easily  be  ascertained,  as  the  biographies 
of  that  famous  man  are  numerous.  Without  agree¬ 
ing  in  all  particulars  with  Mesmeric  ideas  and  prac¬ 
tices,  the  well-known  Theosophical  author,  A.  P. 
Sinnett,  long  ago  published  “The  Rationale  of  Mes¬ 
merism,”  which  gives  an  excellent  account  of  the 
uses  to  which  Mesmer’s  methods  have  often  been 
put.  Colonel  Henry  Steele  Olcott,  president-foun¬ 
der  of  the  Theosophical  Society  organized  in  New 
York  City  November,  1875,  employed  mesmeric 
methods  in  his  work  of  healing  in  which  he  was  often 
eminently  successful,  especially  in  India,  where  the 
native  populations  are  far  more  generally  suscepti¬ 
ble  to  psychic  treatment  than  are  average  Europ¬ 
eans  or  Americans. 

Mesmerism  being  properly  a  sectarian  or  de¬ 
nominational  term  applicable  by  right  only  to  Mes- 
32 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


33 


mer’s  avowed  followers,  it  has  fallen  into  consid¬ 
erable  disuse,  and  the  wider  and  far  more  scientific 
term.  Hypnotism,  has  widely  supplanted  it.  De¬ 
rived  from  the  Greek  word  hypnos,  meaning 
sleep,  the  title  of  Hypnotist  means  sleep-inducer; 
therefore,  if  we  use  language  correctly,  we  shall 
speak  of  hypnotic  processes  only  when  we  intention¬ 
ally  refer  to  such  as  produce  sleep  either  intention¬ 
ally  or  unintentionally  on  the  part  of  the  hypnotizer 
or  the  hypnotized.  A  hypnotist  is  simply  a  person 
who  acknowledges,  and  in  some  degree  advocates, 
hypnotic  practices;  a  hypnotizer  is  one  who  know¬ 
ingly  or  unknowingly  induces  sleep  in  others;  self- 
hypnotizing  is  a  process  of  inducing  sleep  in  one¬ 
self  at  will.  Dr.  Baker  Fahnestock  of  Philadelphia 
wrote  a  very  interesting  and  important  book,  enti¬ 
tled  “Statuvelism,”  a  good  many  years  ago,  in  which 
he  explained  how  it  was  possible  to  induce  a  state 
of  superiority  to  suffering  in  oneself  and  in  others 
without  passing  into  any  peculiar  or  seemingly  un¬ 
conscious  state.  There  is  indeed  a  wide  difference 
between  submitting  blindly  to  the  mental  opera¬ 
tions  of  a  mesmeric  operator  or  a  medical  or  other 
hypnotist  and  choosing  in  perfect  mental  freedom 
to  co-operate  with  some  friend  in  or  out  of  the  flesh, 
between  whom  and  oneself  there  exists  a  close  tie 
of  intellectual  and  moral  sympathy.  The  old  term 
“operator”  and  “subject”  were  always  to  some  ex¬ 
tent  misleading,  tho  when  rightly  understood  they 
serve  fairly  well  to  designate  the  relation  actually 
subsisting  in  many  instances  between  a  doctor  and 
a  patient,  especially  when  the  former  employs  “sug¬ 
gestion”  largely  as  a  therapeutic  agent.  The  stage 
hypnotist  is  usually  an  unscientific  person  who  relies 
upon  stage  tricks  and  bombastic  mannerisms  to  pro¬ 
duce  effects  upon  a  company  of  spectators  who  often 
are  in  search  more  of  amusement  than  edification. 
In  cases  where  a  man  of  powerful  will  and  engaging 
personality  succeeds  in  bringing  several  other  per¬ 
sons  under  his  influence  during  the  course  of  a  pop- 


34 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


ular  entertainment,  we  have  to  consider  several  fac¬ 
tors  which  also  enter  into  the  production  of  certain 
common  results  in  Spiritualistic  seances.  There  is 
supposedly  some  agreement  entered  into  before¬ 
hand  between  the  performing  mesmerist  or  hyp-; 
notist  and  the  “subjects”  who  appear  on  the  stage, 
and  go  thru  their  paces  in  obedience  to  the  directions 
of  the  stage  manager  pro  tern.  That  imposing  per¬ 
sonage  generally  speaks  in  a  confident,  authoritative 
tone,  waves  his  hands  in  a  somewhat  hysterical  man¬ 
ner  and  does  several  other  “stunts,”  all  of  which 
have  a  tendency  to  impress  the  hired  assistants  who 
have  engaged  with  the  performer-in-chief  to  do  his 
bidding  to  the  utmost  of  their  ability  for  a  pecuniary 
consideration,  and  also  to  interest  and  mystify  the 
spectators.  When  volunteers  are  called  for,  as  they 
often  are,  it  is  usually  found  that  those  who  actually 
carry  out  the  suggestions  of  the  dictator  are  either 
singularly  impressionable  persons  who  are  uncon¬ 
sciously  mediumistic  in  high  degree,  or  persons  of 
much  more  decided  individuality  who  wish  the  ex¬ 
periments  to  prove  successful  and  who,  therefore, 
mentally  aid  the  operator  by  vountary  compliance 
with  his  suggestions.  It  is  really  the  case  that  the 
most  nearly  perfect  subjects  are  divisible  into  two 
extreme  opposite  classes,  (  1  )  persons  whose  sensit¬ 
iveness  to  extraneous  influences  of  all  sorts  is  far 
greater  than  the  average,  and  (2)  persons  whose  in¬ 
dividuality  is  so  much  more  pronounced  than  the 
ordinary  that  whenever  they  resolve  to  assist  at  an 
experiment  they  greatly  facilitate  it. 

Thomson  Jay  Hudson,  in  his  famous  book,  “The 
Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena,”  in  the  section  devoted 
to  Hypnotism  throws  a  vast  amount  of  much-needed 
light  on  this  entire  problem,  for  he  contends  that  it 
is  a  flagrant  error  in  the  popular  mind  to  believe 
that  we  are  at  the  mercy  of  hypnotists  and  all  man¬ 
ner  of  uncanny  influences  in  such  a  way  as  to  rob  us 
of  all  genuine  individuality.  If  practically  all  per¬ 
sons  in  a  certain  social  or  individual  condition  were 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


35 


evenly  developed — as  they  decidedly  are  not  at 
present — it  would  be  a  very  easy  task  to  insist  upon 
the  general  accuracy  of  Hudson’s  position,  which  is 
undoubtedly,  in  the  main,  sound;  but  we  cannot  af¬ 
ford  to  overlook  the  often  disconcerting  fact  that 
the  great  variety  in  development,  which  we  encoun¬ 
ter  at  every  turn  in  all  definitely  designable  groups 
of  humanity,  compels  us  to  admit,  no  matter  how 
reluctantly,  that  there  are  victims  of  unrighteous 
hypnotism  in  our  midst,  and  some  of  these  may  be 
subjects  of  unseen  operators.  Demoniacal  posses¬ 
sion  cannot  be  flippantly  dismissed  as  merely  an 
ancient  superstition  sometimes  recrudescent  in  the 
present  century;  for  tho  it  is  harped  upon  far  too 
much  in  many  quarters  it  has  to  be  reckoned  with  in 
many  mental  cases  where  usual  methods  of  treat¬ 
ment  prove  persistently  ineffectual.  There  is  but 
one  remedy  for  this  sad  condition  in  which  unbal¬ 
anced  sensitiveness  may  be  found,  and  that  is  to  help 
them  to  the  utmost  of  our  ability  to  assert  them¬ 
selves  as  they  have  never  asserted  themselves  be¬ 
fore,  and  here  comes  in  the  place  for  right  mental 
treatment  which  is  the  only  genuine  and  effective 
antidote  to  the  pliant  mental  condition  which  ren¬ 
ders  its  victims  creatures  o£  unwelcome  influences. 
Without  discriminating  clearly  between  voluntary 
and  involuntary  subjectivity  one  cannot  discuss  this 
intricate  matter  with  any  degree  of  clearness,  for  it 
naturally  follows  that  highly  individualized  persons 
will  yield  to  whatever  pleases  them  at  their  own 
discretion,  regardless  of  opinions  entertained  by  oth¬ 
ers.  We  may  be  indiscreet  and  do  many  things 
which  we  regret  afterward  thru  ignorance  and  ob¬ 
stinacy  and  still  have  no  just  complaint  against  our 
partners  in  unwise  acts,  seeing  that  we  and  they  were 
mutually  responsible. 

It  is  recorded  of  Andrew  Jackson  Davis  that  he 
was  mesmerized  by  William  Fishbough,  an  upright, 
intelligent  gentleman,  previous  to  his  attaining  that 
“superior  condition’’  which  made  possible  the  pro- 


36 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


duction  of  those  marvelous  volumes  which  constitute 
the  Davis  library.  In  many  instances  a  similar  proc¬ 
ess  has  paved  the  way  for  spiritual  enlightenment 
in  greater  or  less  degree;  but  it  was  not  mental  sub¬ 
jugation,  but  liberation,  which  was  brought  about  in 
those  remarkable  and  edifying  instances.  It  is  al¬ 
ways  wrong  to  seek  to  coerce  another’s  will,  for  such 
a  process  cannot  be  harmonized  with  the  Golden 
Rule  which  teaches  us  to  do  to  others  only  what  we 
are  willing  that  others  should  do  to  us,  and  no  one 
is  willing  to  be  coerced.  If  a  patient  goes  to  a 
physician  who  employs  hypnotic  methods  and  re¬ 
quests  hypnotic  treatment  it  is  but  rational  to  decide 
that  the  applicant  is  carrying  out  his  own  wishes  in 
receiving  the  kind  of  treatment  for  which  he  has 
applied  and  for  which  he  is  willing  to  pay.  In  like 
manner,  when  persons  form  or  join  Developing  Cir¬ 
cles  of  their  own  accord  and  express  a  fervent  desire 
to  develop  some  phase  of  mediumship  they  are  act¬ 
ing  on  their  own  responsibility.  Caution  and  discre¬ 
tion  are  needed  to  steer  clear  of  snares  and  pitfalls 
in  all  directions  as  we  journey  thru  life,  but  we  need 
feel  no  more  dread  of  the  unseen  than  of  the  seen. 
Indeed,  we  are  in  greater  danger,  when  unduly  sus¬ 
ceptible  to  outward  charms,  from  the  physically  vis¬ 
ible  than  from  any  unseen  operations,  because  what 
meets  the  outward  eye  and  ear,  and  generally  fas¬ 
cinates  the  bodily  senses,  makes  a  far  stronger  ap¬ 
peal  to  the  average  undeveloped  man  or  woman 
than  does  any  influence  exerted  on  a  subtler  plane 
of  nature.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  a  very  sensu¬ 
ous  person  is  very  slightly  developed  on  any  inner 
plane,  and  therefore  not  sufficiently  sensitive  to  re¬ 
spond  greatly  to  influences  working  on  interior 
planes.  All  who  practice  suggestive  healing  find 
that  dense  persons  whose  mental  faculties  are  dor¬ 
mant  find  difficulty  in  comprehending  psychic  activ¬ 
ities.  They  are  consequently  great  sticklers  for  defi¬ 
nitely  material  modes  of  treatment,  while  the  sensi¬ 
tive  nature  which  readily  responds  to  silent,  and 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


37 


even  to  absent,  treatment,  marks  a  stage  in  human 
evolution  far  beyond  that  of  the  respectable  boor  or 
even  of  the  everyday  person  who  sees  and  feels  lit¬ 
tle  of  anything  which  does  not  clearly  manifest  on 
the  lowest  or  most  exterior  plane  of  matter.  Many 
dense  and  ignorant  persons  are  credulous  and  easily 
frightened ;  therefore  they  can  easily  be  made  to 
dread  hypnotic  and  other  influences;  but  it  is  tak¬ 
ing  a  contemptibly  mean  advantage  of  ignorance 
and  credulity  to  play  upon  the  fears  of  the  illiterate 
and  the  timid.  Scientific  hypnotism,  like  honorable 
mediumship,  invites  the  closest  examination  on  the 
part  of  fair-minded  investigators,  and  we  feel  that 
we  have  a  right  to  insist  that  no  one  should  allow 
himself  to  believe  that  any  influence  can  exert  any 
hold  over  him  without  his  own  consent.  Illustrations 
could  easily  be  given  in  multitudes  showing  how  it 
often  comes  to  pass  that  hypnotic  influences  are  ex¬ 
erted  and  yielded  to,  without  our  having  to  admit 
that  anything  has  occurred  to  shake  our  confidence 
in  the  salutary  doctrine  of  human  free  agency,  tho 
it  stands  to  reason  that  freedom,  tho  determinable 
as  to  quality,  is  highly  variable  in  quantity  in  dif¬ 
ferent  persons  and  in  the  same  persons  at  different 
stages  of  their  development. 

As  the  theater  has  presented  many  a  version 
of  George  du  Maurier’s  “Swengali”  as  a  typical 
hypnotist,  and  the  same  author’s  famous  “Trilby” 
as  a  typical  hypnotized  sensitive,  it  may  be 
well  to  analyze  that  story,  which,  tho  not 
strictly  scientific,  is  nevertheless  by  no  means 
devoid  of  scientific  elements.  “Trilby”  is  a  French 
laundress  who  aspires  to  sing  in  public  and  desires 
nothing  so  much  as  to  meet  some  one  who  can  help 
her  to  shine  on  the  lyric  stage.  “Swengali”  promises 
to  bring  out  her  voice  and  make  her  a  “star,”  and 
he  fulfils  his  promise  thru  hypnotic  agency.  Such  an 
incident  by  no  means  upsets  the  theory  that  the 
"subject”  was  willing  to  yield  to  the  influence  of 
the  “operator,”  but  it  proves  that  so  great  was  the 


38 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSH1P 


desire  of  the  girl  to  accomplish  a  desired  end  that 
even  tho  the  road  to  it  was  not  entirely  to  her  taste 
— for  “Swengali”  was  not  an  altogether  agreeable 
person — the  attainment  of  the  goal  was,  in  her  opin¬ 
ion,  worth  all  it  cost  to  reach  it. 

It  is  absurdly  puerile  to  complain  against  any 
means  with  which  we  voluntarily  comply  when  we 
set  out  to  attain  certain  much-loved  ends.  Again 
we  insist  that  the  methods  may  be  undesirable  and 
some  of  the  results  pernicious,  but  that  admission 
should  only  be  taken  as  an  admonition  to  exercise 
caution  and  look  well  over  the  ground  before  yield¬ 
ing — if  we  ever  yield — to  any  outside  influence. 
The  higher  and  better  way  than  the  hypnotic  method 
is  the  open  daylight  path  of  Spiritual  co-operation. 
That  is  the  great,  broad  highway  up  which  we  can 
all  profitably  travel,  and  to  that  road,  and  to  that 
road  only,  do  we  purposefully  direct  the  steps  of  our 
inquiring  students. 


LESSON  V. 

Mediumship  and  Human  Freedom 

From  all  that  we  have  advanced  in  the  four  fore¬ 
going  lessons  the  student  will  have  gathered  that 
the  twofold  object  of  this  series  of  instructions  is  to 
explain  as  far  as  possible  the  nature  of  mediumship 
and  to  offer  practical  advice  concerning  its  regu¬ 
lation.  Regulation  is  not  repression  or  suppression, 
therefore  there  is  no  kinship  between  the  attitude 
taken  in  these  lessons  and  hysterical  protests  against 
mediumship  per  se,  as  though  it  were  a  dangerous 
something  tending  to  destroy  individuality  and 
therefore  to  be  condemned  in  toto.  There  is  but 
one  complete  method  of  regulating  any  experiences 
to  which  we  are  naturally  liable  and  that  is  by  so  de¬ 
veloping  our  self-conscious  individuality  that  we  al¬ 
low  nothing  to  invade  our  atmospheric  belt  or  auric 
circle  without  our  definite  consent. 

The  great  difference  between  voluntary  and  in¬ 
voluntary  mediumship  borders  closely  upon  a  dis¬ 
tinction  often  drawn  between  mediumship  and  ad- 
eptship  and  to  that  topic  we  now  draw  particular 
attention.  All  students  of  psychic  phenomena  know 
that  any  phenomenon  may  proceed  from  one  or  the 
other  of  two  opposite  causes,  i.  e.,  either  in  response 
to  the  desire  and  expectation  of  one  who  experi¬ 
ences  a  result,  or  to  the  surprise,  and  sometimes  also 
to  the  dismay  of  the  percipient  or  recipient  of  such 
phenomenon.  As  the  terms  “operator”  and  “sub¬ 
ject”  are  commonly  used  in  mesmeric  and  hypnotic 
connections,  so  “sender”  and  “receiver”  on  the  one 
side,  and  “operator”  and  “percipient”  or  “recipi¬ 
ent”  on  the  other  hand,  are  rightfully  employed  in 
cases  where  definite  psychic  experiments  are  being 
purposefully  and  successfully  conducted. 

However  much  a  “subject”  may  desire  to  be  influ¬ 
enced  by  an  “operator”  we  cannot  entirely  elim¬ 
inate  the  matter  of  domination  on  the  one  side  and 

39 


40 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


subjection  on  the  other;  but  when  we  consider  two 
or  more  perfectly  willing  co-experimenters,  who  are 
indeed  fellow  students,  there  is  no  such  idea  tenable 
as  that  of  one  controlling  and  the  other  submitting 
to  domination.  The  persistence  with  which  many 
Spiritualists  insist  upon  clinging  to  the  questionable 
and  often  objectionable  word  “control’’  is  very 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  rational  spiritual  phil¬ 
osophy  has  not  made  sufficient  inroads  into  their 
consciousness  to  compel  them  to  see  that  we  are 
really  only  employing  a  telepathic  method  of  com¬ 
munication  between  kindred  entities  when  one  is 
incarnate  and  the  other  discarnate  as  much  as  when 
both  are  still  inhabiting  the  flesh.  Far  from  regard¬ 
ing  evidences  of  telepathy  or  mental  telegraphy  as 
disconcerting  to  the  rational  Spiritualists,  or  calcu¬ 
lated  to  throw  doubt  upon  spirit-communion,  we 
insist  that  all  these  mental  phenomena  which  prove 
inter-communication  between  affinitizing  minds  here 
and  now  on  earth,  throw  great  and  much  needed 
light  on  the  constitution  of  the  surviving  entity. 

The  good  and  useful  word  “survival”  is  one  now 
happily  much  in  use  and  it  conveys  a  correct  shade  of 
meaning  without  ambiguity.  To  survive  is  to  con¬ 
tinue  to  live,  neither  more  nor  less  than  that  simple 
widely-inclusive  idea  is  suggested  by  the  expression; 
then  it  necessarily  must  follow  that  if  we  continue 
to  live  in  a  post  mortem  state  we  must  be  living  in 
that  condition  at  present  though  clothed  upon  with  a 
physical  sheath  which  is  laid  aside  at  time  of  mortal 
dissolution. 

Whenever  this  clear  idea  is  adequately  grasped  all 
superstitious  dread  of  spirit-communion  vanishes, 
and  with  it  all  foolish  idolatry  of  the  so-called  “de¬ 
parted,”  who  cannot  have  departed  in  reality  if  they 
are  still  in  communion  with  us  and  continuing  to  live 
their  life  of  thought  and  feeling  which  constitutes 
them  the  particular  individuals  they  are. 

Mediumship  is  ridiculously  misinterpreted  in  nu- 
erous  instances  and  though  on  the  3 1  st  day  of 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


41 


March,  1915,  the  67th  anniversary  of  the  advent  of 
Modern  Spiritualism  was  widely  celebrated, — there¬ 
fore  nearer  70  than  60  years  have  passed  since  the 
“Rochester  Knockings”  heralded  the  commence¬ 
ment  of  a  stupendous  world-wide  revelation  of  the 
actual  condition  of  the  psychic  realm  contiguous  to 
our  ordinary  physical  existence,  and  indeed  interpre¬ 
tating  it, — there  are  still  to  be  found  multitudes  of 
superficial  questioners  raising  the  silly  old  question 
why  their  spirit-friends  do  not  approach  them  direct¬ 
ly,  but  use  the  organism  of  some  strange  person 
through  which  to  deliver  messages  to  the  loved  ones 
yet  inhabiting  terrestrial  bodies,  and  the  yet  more 
foolish  query  why  the  spirits  do  not  come  to  their 
immediate  friends  directly  instead  of  going  to  medi¬ 
ums.  The  answer  to  the  first  question  is  that  differ¬ 
ent  degrees  of  sensitiveness  determine  susceptibility 
to  psychic  influx  and  regulate  degrees  of  perception 
of  physical  objects  and  presences.  The  reply  to  the 
second  question  is  that  it  is  in  itself  unanswerable, 
because  logically  unaskable,  seeing  that  clairvoy¬ 
ants  invariably  settle  the  matter  before  hand  by  say¬ 
ing,  “I  see  such  and  such  influences  with  you,”  or 
words  to  that  effect. 

Our  spirit  friends  are  not  drawn  to  mediums  with 
whom  we  and  they  are  alike  unacquainted;  they  are 
attracted  to  us,  but  it  takes  a  sufficiently  sensitive  or¬ 
ganism  to  see  or  feel  their  presence  or  to  hear  any 
sounds  they  may  produce  upon  the  psychic  atmos¬ 
phere.  Gross  ignorance  is  manifested  by  reasoning 
enquirers,  therefore  instruction  in  the  laws  governing 
mediumship  is  a  pressing  requirement  of  our  times. 
Often  and  often  we  hear  a  scathing  objection  made 
to  the  moral  defects  of  a  medium,  and  many  fastid¬ 
ious  persons  seriously  dislike  the  idea  that  their 
friends  should  approach  them  through  a  supposedly 
unworthy  channel.  Up  to  a  certain  point  we  can 
sympathize  with  this  fastidiousness,  but  it  soon  melts 
away  on  fair  examination,  for  whenever  our  friends 
communicate  with  us  through  anyone  we  are  present 


42 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


in  the  place  where  the  communication  is  made,  and 
it  is  almost  certain  that  we  and  not  the  medium 
have  attracted  the  spirit.  If  we  can  deliberately  go 
into  the  presence  of  a  person  of  doubtful  character 
and  ask  for  a  message  from  a  spirit-friend,  we  should 
certainly  not  be  surprised  or  cynical  because  our 
desires  are  so  far  met  that  one  whom  we  seek  to  hear 
from  endeavors  to  respond  to  our  request. 

Clairvoyance  does  not  necessitate  any  actual  fel¬ 
lowship  between  the  seer  and  the  individual  seen 
and  described  any  more  than  we  need  to  postulate 
sympathy  in  thought  and  feeling  between  ourselves 
and  all  the  persons  and  objects  we  observe  upon  a 
highway. 

When  clairsentience  is  the  gateway  through  which 
information  is  received  we  need  not  suppose  that 
there  is  any  true  affinity  between  the  psychometer 
and  the  influences  detected  unless  the  feeling  on  the 
part  of  the  percipient  is  specially  agreeable,  which 
is  undoubtedly  an  evidence  of  some  measure  of  in¬ 
terior  accord.  It  is  frequently  at  the  earnest  de¬ 
sire  of  both  medium  and  sitter  that  a  certain  influ¬ 
ence  should  manifest,  and  in  such  an  instance  con¬ 
ditions  are  usually  highly  favorable.  Let  it  once 
be  clearly  and  practically  understood  that  fervent 
desire  and  confident  expectation  are  the  two  great 
gates  through  which  all  revelations  are  vouchsafed, 
and  we  shall  have  less  and  less  need  to  depend  upon 
mediumistic  channels  beyond  the  limits  of  our  own 
superphysical  faculties;  but  unless  these  faculties  are 
developed  and  exercised  sufficiently  to  make  us  inde¬ 
pendent  of  extraneous  aid,  we  must  depend  to  a 
considerable  extent  upon  our  more  sensitive  neigh¬ 
bors.  Mediumship  can  be  both  a  bane  and  a  bless¬ 
ing,  and  it  is  usually  a  combination  of  both,  because 
of  its  spasmodic  and  unregulated  character.  There 
are  two  distinct  kinds  of  mediumship  broadly  sep¬ 
arable  which  are  too  often  unseparated  in  our  es¬ 
teem,  viz.,  a  kind  of  useful  observativeness, — which 
adds  to  our  general  knowledge  and  can  always  be 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


43 


made  to  serve  some  useful  end, — and  a  much  more 
intimate  association  with  entities  and  influences  ob¬ 
served.  There  is  no  danger  whatever  in  the  increase 
of  observational  sensitiveness,  for  that  only  extends 
our  knowledge;  but  susceptibility  to  influences  in  an 
emotional  manner  is  often  fraught  with  danger  to 
imperfectly  individualized  persons.  A  familiar  illus¬ 
tration  based  on  everyday  experience  should  suf¬ 
fice  to  show  clearly  the  actual  difference  between 
these  two  sorts  of  sensitiveness.  A  person  possessed 
of  unusually  keen  sight  or  hearing  must  of  necessity 
see  or  hear  more  than  the  average.  This  extension 
of  sight  and  hearing  should  be  made  use  of,  but 
never  permitted  to  dominate  its  possessor.  No  suf¬ 
fering  results  from  extended  power  to  observe  and 
hear,  but  only  from  allowing  ourself  to  be  emotion¬ 
ally  affected  by  what  one  sees  and  hears.  We  know 
full  well  how  often  it  is  said  that  very  sensitive  musi¬ 
cians  suffer  greatly  from  musical  discords  which  less 
sensitive  hearers  fail  to  detect,  and  that  they  also 
keenly  enjoy  delicate  and  intricate  harmonies  which 
ordinary  listeners  fail  to  hear.  This  is  undeniably 
true  in  fact,  but  it  need  not  continue  to  be  anyone’s 
experience  on  the  painful  side,  though  it  may  con¬ 
tinue,  and  constantly  increase,  on  the  delightful  side. 
If  we  exercise  will  power  and  mental  discrimination 
in  the  regulation  of  all  our  various  faculties  we  shall 
soon  discover  that  ability  and  necessity  are  far  more 
identical. 

We  can  listen  attentively  to  whatever  pleases  us 
and  drink  in  such  melodies  as  carry  charm,  but  be¬ 
cause  we  have  the  capacity  for  listening  equally  to 
discords,  and  partaking  of  the  vibrations  which  an¬ 
noy  us,  we  are  by  no  means  compelled  to  do  so. 
Ability  to  drink  tea  accompanies  ability  to  swallow 
any  other  liquid,  but  multitudes  of  total  abstainers 
from  alcohol  in  all  its  forms  drink  tea  freely,  and 
rarely  refuse  a  cupful  when  it  is  offered  to  them, 
but  though  they  have  equal  capacity  for  drinking 
wine  and  brandy,  and  they  may  often  dine  at  tables 


44 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


where  those  beverages  are  consumed  by  fellow 
diners,  they  simply  do  not  partake  of  those  stimu¬ 
lants.  In  like  manner  we  can  know  of  the  existence 
of  psychic  presences  and  mingle  with  any  sort  of 
company  and  still  remain  immune  from  participation 
in  any  other  emotional  experiences  than  such  as  we 
elect  to  favor. 

The  first  necessary  exercise  along  the  road  of 
mastery  over  undue  susceptibility  to  psychic  influ¬ 
ences  is  the  practice  of  ripid  concentration  of  atten¬ 
tion  at  some  point  where  our  affections  or  our  intel¬ 
lectual  interests  may  be  exclusively  centered.  Say 
that  a  number  of  different  sounds  are  hearable  at  a 
certain  time  in  a  certain  place  and  we  desire  to 
listen  attentively  to  only  one  of  those  many  sounds. 
We  must  not  make  an  effort  to  shut  out  any  of  the 
others,  but  quietly  and  resolutely  affirm  our  ability 
to  confine  attention  exclusively  to  the  sound  se¬ 
lected.  At  first  other  sounds  may  remain  audible, 
but  as  we  persist  in  confining  attention  to  one  sound 
only,  we  shall  find  that  all  the  others  grow  fainter 
and  fainter  until  they  have  become  wholly  negligi¬ 
ble.  Should  we  then  desire  to  select  another  sound 
and  neglect  to  listen  to  the  first  one  chosen,  we  can 
attend  to  the  second  as  exclusively  as  we  did  to 
the  first,  and  in  like  manner,  if  we  please,  select 
sound  after  sound  until  we  have  proved  conclusive¬ 
ly  that  we  are  able  to  use  our  faculty  of  hearing 
entirely  at  discretion. 

When  this  excellent  practice  is  frequently  and  suc¬ 
cessfully  carried  out  on  the  common  outer  plane 
of  our  experience  we  can  utilize  the  method  to  great 
advantage  in  the  field  of  clairaudience,  and  thereby 
escape  annoyance  from  physical  distractions  while 
listening  attentively  to  some  sound  pertaining  to 
the  psychic  region  or  astral  plane  on  which  our 
clairaudience  is  exercised.  Precisely  the  same  ex¬ 
periments  can  be  conducted  with  tasting,  touching 
and  smelling.  We  can  select  a  flavor,  an  odor,  or  a 
texture  for  examination  and  so  concentrate  upon  one 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


45 


only  at  a  given  time  that  no  matter  how  many  oth¬ 
ers  may  be  co-present  we  pay  no  attention  to  them. 

These  exercises  develop  self-control  in  mental 
regions  and  are  of  priceless  benefit  in  all  depart¬ 
ments  of  activity,  in  social  and  business  life  as  well 
as  in  the  field  of  expressly  psychic  exploration. 

We  all  properly  desire  to  turn  our  sensitiveness  to 
good  account  if  we  acknowledge  it  and  cultivate  it, 
and  it  stands  to  reason  in  commercial  life,  as  well  as 
everywhere  else,  increased  perceptiveness  must 
prove  an  extremely  valuable  asset  whenever  it  is 
properly  regulated.  To  develop  and  exercise  sensi¬ 
tiveness  deliberately  with  some  useful  end  in  view 
is  surely  rational  and  praiseworthy,  and  such  a  course 
of  procedure  is  the  only  effectual  cure  for  that  dis¬ 
tressing  unbalanced  sensitiveness  which  ill-informed 
persons  are  apt  to  think  is  the  whole  of  mediumship. 
We  cannot  exercise  power  in  psychic  fields  unless  we 
exercise  self-regulation  in  the  ordinary  conduct  of 
external  life,  therefore  the  exercises  in  concentration 
we  advocate,  and  lay  much  stress  upon,  serve  equal¬ 
ly  in  cases  where  students  are  specially  mediumistic 
and  where  they  are  not;  for  they  invariably  increase 
self-reliance  and  general  efficiency  by  helping  prog¬ 
ress  along  the  upward  path  toward  eventual  adept- 
hood. 

It  has  seemed  to  many  investigators  who  have  not 
learned  of  the  rational  luminous  way,  that  they 
must  either  abandon  all  interest  in  mediumship  and 
turn  their  backs  on  psychic  development  altogether, 
or  else  submit  to  agonizing  experiences  fraught  with 
injury  alike  to  mind  and  body.  To  rescue  these  vic¬ 
tims  of  misconception  should  be  the  happy  work 
of  truly  enlightened  sensitives.  It  may  safety  be 
affirmed  that  so  far  as  we  are  practically  concerned 
we  can,  if  we  resolutely  will,  determine  exactly  the 
class  of  influences  with  which  we  psychically  consort, 
for  it  is  always  thought  and  affection,  never  exterior 
conditions,  which  regulates  mental  and  spiritual  con¬ 
sociation.  We  may  often  be  in  the  actual  outward 


46 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


presence  of  much  that  is  in  no  way  related  with  us 
inwardly,  and  we  can  wisely  make  use  of  such  trying 
experience  to  strengthen  our  characters  by  refusing 
to  be  annoyed  by  otherwise  annoying  influences.  As 
in  the  life  of  a  great  city  afl  sorts  of  sights  and  sounds 
are  inevitable  in  the  present  perturbed  condition  of 
society, — but  we  can  learn  to  surround  ourselves 
with  an  auric  sanctuary  and  pay  no  heed  to  surround¬ 
ing  perturbations, — so  by  an  analagous  act  on  the 
purely  psychic  plane  we  can  grow  unaffectable  by 
discordant  influences  and  then  begin  the  still  higher 
mediumistic  ministry  of  guiding  and  healing  others. 


LESSON  VI. 

A  Study  in  Psychometry. 

Tho  many  useful  words  are  constantly  employed 
to  designate  distinctive  psychic  gifts  and  faculties, 
the  word  Psychometry,  employed  by  Professor  Wil¬ 
liam  Denton,  Joseph  Rodes  Buchanan  and  other 
well-known  anthropologists  of  the  1 9th  century, 
seems  more  widely  inclusive  and  intelligently  ex¬ 
pressive  than  almost  any  other.  Its  only  adequate 
equivalent  in  our  immediate  vocabulary  is  Clair- 
sentience  or  clearfeeling.  We  often  hear  a  sensi¬ 
tive  person  exclaim,  “I  sense  so  and  so,”  and  beyond 
that  rather  hazy  statement  we  do  not  seem  able  to 
readily  proceed.  This  reminds  us  of  many  a  per¬ 
son’s  unsatisfactory  “Oh,  because,”  a  phrase  used 
far  more  frequently  By  women  than  by  men,  and 
often  attributed  to  a  woman’s  supposed  intuition 
enabling  her  to  feel  in  a  general  “altogether”  way 
much  that  she  cannot  clearly  analyze.  Here  we 
strike  the  primal  difference  between  synthesis  and 
analysis;  between  an  inclusive  perception  of  things 
in  mass  or  bulk  and  a  particular  discriminative  ap¬ 
preciation  of  details  included  in  that  bulk  or  mass. 

A  “sensitive  ”  or  “psychic”  or  “medium”; — we  can 
use  whichever  of  these  three  titles  we  prefer  without 
conveying  more  than  one  idea, — grasps  in  some 
more  or  less  mysterious  manner  the  fact  that  an 
object  or  a  person  possesses  certain  definite  attri¬ 
butes  and  qualities  without  the  perceiver  having  ar¬ 
rived  at  that  conclusion  by  any  rational  process  of 
examination  and  deduction. 

Psychometers  are  measurers  of  psychic  influences 
and  detectors  of  influences  too  subtle  to  be  discerned 
or  apprehended  by  persons  of  only  ordinary  sus¬ 
ceptibilities.  Professors  Denton  and  Buchanan,  and 
many  other  able  scientific  men  who  have  investi- 

47 


48 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


gated  the  psychic  faculty  displayed  by  highly  sensi¬ 
tive  men,  women  and  children  thru  a  long  series  of 
varied  experiments,  have  collected  abundant  evi¬ 
dence  to  convince  all  but  the  stupidily  sceptical  that 
this  faculty  they  have  termed  psychometric  is  one 
possessed  by  far  more  persons  than  we  commonly 
suppose,  and  it  is  on  its  lower  level  a  faculty  pos¬ 
sessed  in  high  degree  by  bloodhounds  and  other 
sagacious  animals  often  employed  for  detective  pur¬ 
poses. 

We  need  to  discriminate  unmistakably  between  a 
merely  animal  sensitiveness,  which  is  sub-human  and 
pertains  only  to  the  animal  side  of  human  nature, 
and  a  definitely  human  and  deliberately  cultivated 
and  exercised  faculty  which  marks  a  high  degree  of 
human  progress;  but  as  the  greater  contains  the  les¬ 
ser  and  the  higher  includes  the  lower,  the  remark¬ 
able  sagacity  of  a  fine  dog  may  also  prove  a  valua¬ 
ble  human  asset.  The  main  distinction  which  always 
needs  to  be  kept  steadily  in  mind  between  animal 
and  human  susceptibility  to  psychical  impressions 
is  that  the  former  are  instinctive  and  therefore  invol¬ 
untary,  while  the  latter  are  the  result  of  definite  de¬ 
termination  to  acknowledge  and  utilize  an  indwell- 
ling  ability.  We  all  know  that  multitudes  of  men 
and  women  live  constantly  on  a  plane  of  conscious¬ 
ness  very  little  removed  above  the  animal,  and  that 
many  of  these  unsophisticated  persons  are  good  and 
useful  sensitives  and  can  be  employed  to  excellent 
advantage  in  Psychical  Research  work,  and  it  is 
from  the  ranks  of  these  that  responsible  mediums 
are  perpetually  recruited.  A  good  natural  psy¬ 
chometer  who  works  only  instinctively  is  a  valuable 
find  for  scientific  explorers  of  the  psychical  domain, 
but  as  such  a  person  is  likely  to  be  too  easily  influ¬ 
enced  by  the  minds  of  experimenters  who  have 
definite  views  of  their  own  in  many  instances  (tho 
not  in  all  cases),  we  find  that  most  records  of 
psychometric  revelations  are  probably  less  valuable 
than  they  would  have  been  had  the  investigators 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSH1P 


49 


been  completely  unbiased  in  any  direction. 

It  is  probably  much  easier  for  an  animal  and  also 
for  a  simple-minded  child,  to  be  unaffected  by  fore¬ 
thought  and  prejudice  than  for  any  thoughtful  child 
of  school  age  or  for  any  normal  man  and  woman  to 
be  thus  unaffected,  until  we  reach  a  stage  approach¬ 
ing  adepthood,  which  is  a  condition  resulting  from 
persistent  cultivation  of  super-ordinary  powers  of  ob¬ 
servation  by  means  of  definite  self-regulative  proc¬ 
esses. 

The  natural  impulsive  sensitive  who  exercises  a 
dog-like  psychometric  faculty  is  very  often  correct 
and  therefore  furnishes  abundant  evidence  of  the 
utility  as  well  as  of  the  reality  of  the  psychometric 
faculty;  but  a  danger  arises  in  the  case  of  human  be¬ 
ings  as  a  result  of  their  mixing  their  own  fancies  and 
unwarranted  speculations  with  their  unpremeditated 
impressions,  and  in  cases  where  a  determined  ex¬ 
perimenter  is  conducting  experiments  with  such  a 
sensitive  it  follows  frequently  that  the  sensitive,  who 
is  thoroughly  genuine,  reflects  the  opinions  of  the 
investigator  with  whom  she  is  working  to  such  an 
extent  that  thought-transference  pure  and  simple 
is  the  true  explanation  of  the  impressions  given  forth 
by  the  psychometer.  When  experiments  are  made 
with  dogs  the  case  is  usually  different,  because  when 
sensitive  animals  are  employed  as  detectives,  some 
article  belonging  to  the  missing  person  is  presented 
to  the  dog  who  sniffs  the  article  and  then  follows  a 
mysterious  trail  apparently  using  a  remarkably  keen 
sense  of  smell.  Everyone  gives  forth  a  characteristic 
emanation  at  all  times  involuntarily  and  of  necessity 
as  a  result  of  temperament  and  condition,  and  when¬ 
ever  an  animal  or  a  person  is  endowed  with  keener 
perception  of  this  than  ordinary,  psychometry  is 
demonstrable. 

We  hear  of  “first  impressions”  and  their  frequent 
accuracy.  The  cause  of  their  correctness  is  that  they 
are  generally  far  more  simple  and  instinctive  than 
any  deductions  we  may  draw  from  careful  observa- 


50 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


tion,  but  no  mere  impression  can  equal  the  pro¬ 
fundity  of  genuine  intuition,  which  includes  all  the 
elements  in  accurate  impressions  and  much  besides. 
To  prove  the  psychometric  faculty  is  not  located  like 
sight  or  hearing  in  a  single  pair  of  organs,  but  is  dis¬ 
tributed  over_the_entire_bod^,  the  article  should  be 
handled  but  not  looked  at,  as  the  sense  of  sight 
usually  interferes  with  that  of  simple  feeling]  The 
psychometer  absorbs  information  by  a  process  of 
psychic  suction,  therefore  it  matters  little  (if  at  all) 
whether  the  article  to  be  delineated  is  placed  in  the 
hand,  on  the  forehead,  at  the  back  of  the  head, 
under  the  feet  or  on  the  chest,  for  delineations  are 
possible  with  any  of  these  five  positions. 

Other  positions  also  have  been  selected  for  the 
placing  of  an  article  to  be  examined  psychically  and 
equally  good  results  have  followed.  (2)  It  is  im¬ 
perative  that  a  psychometer  should  have  no  desire 
to  arrive  at  any  special  conclusion  for  any  purpose 
whatever.  This  condition  is  difficult  to  fully  meet 
when  a  sensitive  is  employed  by  an  experimenter 
who  strongly  wishes  an  event  to  turn  out  in  a  certain 
way,  or  who  entertains  strong  secret  beliefs  that  an 
article  has  had  a  certain  history  or  is  the  property 
of  an  owner  possessed  of  certain  definite  qualities 
and  peculiarities.  These  hampering  presuppositions 
entertained  by  investigators  militate  greatly  against 
lucidity,  and  they  are  utterly  unscientific,  tho  difficult 
to  entirely  avoid.  The  scientific  attitude  in  the  face 
of  every  projected  investigation  is  one  of  pure  agnos¬ 
ticism  and  surely  it  stands  to  reason  that  if  we  feel 
certain  we  already  know  the  facts  in  a  case,  we  are 
not  consciously  in  need  of  further  information,  tho 
it  is  often  extremely  gratifying  to  be  assured  that  we 
are  right  and  to  have  our  deductions  confirmed  by 
witnesses.  (3)  Whenever  a  psychometric  experi¬ 
ment  is  conducted  deliberately  the  sensitive  should 
be  temporarily  at  rest  from  all  other  engagements. 
A  free  mind  is  essential  to  complete  concentration. 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


51 


and  without  that  prime  requisite  to  success,  results 
are  apt  to  be  confused  and  confusing. 

The  theory  of  psychometry  explains  many  a  mys¬ 
tery  otherwise  insoluble  and  it  interprets  rationally 
numerous  cases  of  healing  thru  contact  with  mag¬ 
netized  and  consecrated  articles  which  would  remain 
darkly  mysterious  were  it  not  for  the  light  shed  by 
psychometry.  Dr.  J.  R.  Buchanan  was  so  enthusias¬ 
tic  that  he  declared  the  cultivation  of  this  faculty 
heralded  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  civilization,  and 
so  it  does  if  it  is  developed  intelligently  and  impar¬ 
tially  along  noble  lines. 

Graphology  is  by  no  means  despicable,  for  it  can 
be  proved  that  caligraphy  throws  some  light  on  char¬ 
acter;  but  a  moment’s  thought  should  suffice  to  con¬ 
vince  us  all  that  handwriting  is  easily  imitated  by 
expert  forgers,  and  there  is  surely  an  immensely  wide 
difference  in  character  between  a  forger  and  an  up¬ 
right  man  whose  writing  is  imitated  successfully  for 
deceptive  ends.  The  distinction  between  the  stand¬ 
point  of  a  graphologist  and  that  of  .a  psychometer  is 
one  of  the  widest  thinkable  opposition,  because  the 
former  depends  avowedly  upon  a  result  of  mechan¬ 
ical  action  (writing)  which  can  be  learned  and 
copied,  and  the  latter  relies  solely  upon  internal  evi¬ 
dences  with  which  outward  actions  have  nothing 
to  do. 

It  must  be  self-evident  that  if  external  acts  like 
writing  could  not  be  successfully  imitated,  forgeries 
could  not  succeed;  therefore,  while  we  admit,  for  it 
can  frequently  be  proved,  that  handwriting  betrays 
character  to  some  considerable  extent, — especially 
when  one  writes  carelessly,  bestowing  no  thought  on 

the  mechanical  procedure - still  the  only  infallible 

proof  of  character  is  to  be  found  in  those  subtle  and 
inevitable  emanations  which  proceed  spontaneously 
from  us  as  the  direct  result  of  our  interior  condition. 
Discrimination  is  frequently  necessary  to  decide  be¬ 
tween  chronic  and  immediate  conditions.  The  first 
impression  received  by  a  keenly  sensitive  psychome- 


52 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


ter  results  from  the  actual  condition  of  the  person 
whose  hand  is  taken  when  there  is  personal  contact, 
but  as  there  is  only  temporary  agitation,  inducing  the 
symptoms  of  nervous  irritability  or  hasty  temper, 
this  impression  soon  wears  off  and  the  next  impres¬ 
sion  penetrates  far  more  deeply  into  the  more  per¬ 
manent  state  of  the  person  undergoing  psychic  in¬ 
vestigation. 

When  an  article  of  clothing,  or  anything  con¬ 
stantly  carried  about  the  person  and  used  very  fre¬ 
quently,  like  a  pocket  knife,  a  locket,  or  a  watch,  is 
used  for  delineative  purposes,  a  sensitive  will  prob¬ 
ably  get  a  correct  first  impression  because  such  an 
article  has  become  permeated  with  the  psycho-phys¬ 
ical  exudations  of  its  owner  and  wearer,  and  general 
conditions  are  absorbed  and  retained  to  a  far  greater 
extent  than  results  of  transient  emotions,  unless  such 
be  extremely  vivid  and  enter  very  deeply  into  the 
emotional  life  of  the  one  experiencing  them.  Psy- 
chometry  serves  also  for  discovering  the  inner  at¬ 
mosphere  of  rooms  and  entire  buildings. 

Whenever  a  sensitive  feels  a  distinctive  aversion 
to  a  place  or  an  intense  distaste  for  the  society  of  a 
person,  these  warnings  should  be  heeded,  but  it  is 
necessary  to  point  out  clearly  in  a  lesson  that  per¬ 
sonal  aversion  by  no  means  necessarily  reflects  dis¬ 
credit  on  the  object  of  aversion;  it  only  proves  in¬ 
compatibility  of  temperament  or  lack  of  mutual 
adaptability  of  place  or  person.  In  the  case  of  rooms 
or  buildings  ,the  magnetism  of  places  is  as  unmis¬ 
takable  as  that  of  individuals,  and  this  is  due  to 
human  associations  far  more  than  to  climatic  and 
other  extraneous  causes.  Every  place  and  person 
has  its  own  peculiar  atmosphere  and  photosphere, 
and  on  the  astral  atmosphere  which  serves  as  a 
palimpset;  everything  is  inscribed  which  takes  place 
in  the  edifice  or  affects  the  emotional  life  of  the  man 
or  animal.  Psychometry  is  more  than  clairvoyance 
or  clairaudience,  and  more  than  both  combined,  be¬ 
cause  it  is  all-inclusive.  It  cannot  be  properly  termed 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


53 


an  additional  sense,  or  the  intensification  of  any  one 
of  our  five  senses,  tho  touch  seems  more  nearly  re¬ 
lated  to  it  than  any  of  the  other  four.  A  psychom¬ 
eter  gets  at  the  root  of  the  five  senses  and  deals  with 
the  palm  of  the  psychic  hand,  so  to  speak,  out  of 
which  the  five  digits  proceed. 

All  readers  of  hands  know  that  the  palms  reveal 
more  than  the  fingers;  but  each  digit  has  a  tale  to 
tell  peculiarly  its  own.  A  psychometer  by  getting 
at  the  root  of  the  senses  can  ascertain  more  than 
can  possibly  be  discovered  by  employing  the  senses 
separately  and  severally,  therefore,  psychometry 
when  highly  cultivated  reveals  all  that  phrenology, 
physiognomy  and  chirology  can  reveal,  and  more 
also.  In  saying  this  we  do  not  intend  in  any  way 
to  slight  or  deprecate  the  work  of  phrenologists, 
physiognomists  and  chirologists;  we  only  mean  to 
insist  that  as  we  become  increasingly  sensitive  to 
interior  suggestions  we  shall  have  less  and  less  occa¬ 
sion  to  depend  as  hitherto  upon  those  imperfect  op¬ 
portunities  afforded  us  for  making  examinations  lim¬ 
ited  by  the  testimony  of  the  outward  senses 

To  exercise  psychometry  perfectly  one  has  to  be¬ 
come  wondrously  freed  from  ordinary  anxieties  and 
from  all  prevailing  tendencies  to  be  influenced  by  ap¬ 
pearances,  for  no  sooner  do  we  begin  to  take  ac¬ 
count  of  external  symptoms  than  we  transfer  atten¬ 
tion  from  within  to  without  and  thus  become  mud¬ 
dled  in  an  endeavor  to  collect  evidence  from  two 
opposite  directions  at  the  same  moment.  Perfect 
mental  serenity  and  complete  disregard  of  appear¬ 
ances  is  the  sine  qua  non  when  seeking  to  per¬ 
fect  ourselves  as  psychometers.  To  the  extent  that 
we  attain  to  that  amazing  degree  of  freedom  from 
the  pressure  of  extraneous  influences,  but  no  further, 
can  we  lucidly  and  reliably  exercise  our  genuinely 
psychical  possibilities. 


LESSON  VII. 


Healing  Mediumship — Its  Nature  and  Rightful 
Exercise. 

Among  the  many  phases  of  mediumship  constant¬ 
ly  enumerated  there  can  be  none  so  wide-reaching  in 
beneficent  results  as  the  ministry  of  healing. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  career  of  Modern  Spirit¬ 
ualism,  this  important  subject  occupied  a  very  prom¬ 
inent  place  in  the  esteem  of  Spiritualists;  but  after 
awhile  the  incessant  clamor  for  sensational  phen¬ 
omena  took  such  wide  possession  of  the  minds  of 
multitudes  that  were  ensued  an  era  of  sensationalism 
during  which  the  work  of  healing  was  relegated  to  the 
background  and  doubtful  manifestations  occupied 
the  stage  to  such  an  extent  that  tricksters  mul¬ 
tiplied,  who  assumed  to  possess  mediumistic  gifts 
of  the  most  amazing  nature,  and  many  humili¬ 
ating  experiences  followed.  During  that  critical  and 
storm-tossed  period  in  the  history  of  Spiritualism  the 
movement  known  as  Christian  Science  arose,  and 
many  other  movements  came  to  the  front,  more  or 
less  similar  to  that  inaugurated  by  Mrs.  Eddy,  which 
attracted  wide  attention  on  account  of  the  stress  laid 
on  healing  as  a  matter  of  central  and  supreme  im¬ 
portance. 

Many  defections  from  the  ranks  of  Spiritualists  oc¬ 
curred  in  consequence  of  these  causes,  and  the  Spirit¬ 
ualistic  movement  sustained  a  temporary  setback, 
for  no  cause  can  truly  flourish  if  it  allows  the  most 
practical  and  beneficent  feature  of  its  ministry  to  fall 
into  comparitive  oblivion.  Healing  Mediumship 
never  faded  entirely  out;  there  were  always  psychics 
operating  both  in  public  and  in  private  who  demon¬ 
strated  the  power  of  the  spirit  to  vanquish  ailments 
both  of  mind  and  body;  but  only  in  rare  instances 
have  Spiritualists  in  recent  years  brought  healing 
54 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


55 


mediumship  to  the  front  as  it  was  brought  in  the  days 
of  the  famous  healer,  Newton,  a  record  of  whose 
marvellous  work  is  preserved  in  a  book  entitled, 
“The  Modern  Bethesda,”  published  many  years  ago 
in  New  York. 

This  marvellous  healer  always  claimed  to  be  a 
medium,  and  he  declared  from  first  to  last  that  the 
power  of  the  spirit  working  thru  him  derived  direct¬ 
ly  from  the  operation  of  his  guides,  who,  when  on 
earth,  were  active  in  the  same  sort  of  ministry,  and 
unhesitatingly  declared  that  there  were  no  accounts 
of  healing  contained  in  any  ancient  Scripture  which 
might  not  be  duplicated  in  the  present  day.  In  this 
contention  he  was  clearly  logical  and  right,  and  his 
own  stupendous  work  abundantly  sustained  his  claim. 

It  may  well  be  asked,  however,  whether  it  is  not 
an  error  to  attribute  the  gift  of  healing  to  the  action 
of  individual  human  spirits,  seeing  that  the  power 
that  heals  may  be  rightly  regarded  as  an  indwelling 
spiritual  force  possessable  by  every  human  being 
and  therefore  exercisable  by  any  one  who  acknowl¬ 
edges  it  faithfully,  without  having  recourse  to  any  ex¬ 
traneous  individuals.  This  subject  deserves  care¬ 
ful  consideration  and  cannot  be  lightly  dismissed  as 
it  is  a  theme  of  great  importance.  We  may  fairly 
take  an  intelligible  middle  ground,  between  extreme 
positions  by  calling  attention  to  that  law  of  spiritual 
co-operation  which  is  incessantly  in  action  whether 
we  know  it  or  know  it  not. 

Nothing  can  be  more  self-evident  than  that  the 
law  of  human  existence  necessitates  inter  action  be¬ 
tween  human  entities.  We  are  not  born  without 
parents,  nor  do  we  live  and  thrive  as  we  grow  up 
as  isolated  entities.  All  our  joys  and  sorrows,  banes 
and  blessings  are  interactive,  so  that  much  of  the 
health  of  one  is  the  boon  of  all  and  the  sickness  of 
one  is  a  menace  to  all.  Every  sanitary  regulation 
is  based  on  this  admission  and,  without  accepting 
this  proposition,  no  one  could  feel  justified  in  pre- 


56 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


scribing  any  regulations  for  public  conduct.  Now, 
while  it  sounds  well  to  say  that  we  as  individuals 
are  sufficient  unto  ourselves, — or  if  we  are  religiously 
inclined,  to  boast  of  our  dependence  solely  on 
Deity, — we  do  not  find  that  the  facts  of  our  exist¬ 
ence  bear  out  these  claims  at  all  fully,  for  no  matter 
what  our  creed  or  school  of  thought  and  practice 
may  be,  we  all  give  evidence  that  we  are  far  more 
interdependent  than  independent.  It  is  impossible 
to  point  to  a  single  denomination  of  peculiar  people 
who  claim  that  their  dependence  is  entirely  upon 
the  Divine  Spirit  working  directly  thru  them,  with¬ 
out  noticing  that  they  have  healers  and  teachers 
among  them  and  that  they  make  a  great  deal  of 
special  ministrations  of  specially  appointed  or 
selected  persons.  All  sorts  of  explanations  may  be 
offered  to  account  for  this  seeming  inconsistency, 
but  it  nevertheless  obtains,  and  nowhere  more  promi¬ 
nently  than  among  Christian  Scientists  who  repudiate 
healing  mediumship  and  claim  that  it  is  only  thru 
acknowledgment  of  truth,  and  trust  in  its  potency 
to  produce  perfectly  healthy  results  in  the  body  of 
one  who  trusts  in  its  efficiency  unfalteringly,  that 
healing  can  be  accomplished. 

The  practitioner  is  always  a  medium  in  one  sense 
if  not  in  another,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  realize  how 
probable  it  is,  in  many  instances,  that  some  afflicted 
person  is  helped  by  an  unseen  instead  of  by  a 
physically  visible  helper.  When  we  have  entirely 
got  away  from  the  lingering  superstition  that  our 
comrades  who  have  passed  from  mortal  sight  have 
been  removed  from  the  field  of  human  activity  we 
shall  not  regard  mediumistic  experiences  as  radically 
different  from  ordinary  occurrences  of  like  nature 
between  persons  all  now  enrobed  in  flesh.  Absent 
healing,  a  topic  now  discussed  widely  among  all 
interested  in  mental  therapeutics  or  psycho-therapy, 
throws  unlimited  light  upon  the  problem  of  healing 
mediumship  and  so  far  simplifies  the  subject  as  to 
render  it  immediately  intelligible.  Spiritualists  of 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


57 


a  generation  or  two  ago  usually  spoke  and  acted  as 
tho  they  could  derive  help  from  those  commonly 
called  “departed,”  but  not  from  each  other  still  on 
earth.  Many  mental  scientists  have  insisted,  and 
done  much  to  prove,  that  we  can  help  each  other 
mentally  here  and  now  in  a  psychic  manner,  but  they 
have  ignored, — and  in  some  cases  even  undertaken 
to  deny, — that  we  can  receive  equal  help  from  those 
who  have  “shuffled  off  this  mortal  coil.”  A  wise 
position,  commending  itself  to  a  rapidly  increasing 
number  of  open-minded  thinkers,  is  that  we  can 
and  do  give  and  receive  benefit  in  both  of  these 
seemingly  distinct,  but  in  reality  closely  identified 
relationships.  A  true  healer  must  always  be  an 
educator,  for  unless  a  patient  is  taught  something 
concerning  the  law  of  health  which  must  be  ob¬ 
served  after  an  ailment  has  been  conquered,  a 
relapse  is  very  likely  to  ensue.  It  is  precisely  at 
this  point  that  a  distinction  must  be  clearly  drawn 
between  a  competent  healer  and  one  who  is  simply 
a  magnetizer.  Far  too  much  stress  has  often  been 
laid  upon  “animal  magnetism"  among  persons  who 
have  claimed  to  be  “healing  mediums, “and  for  that 
reason  spiritual  healing  was  largely  overlooked  by 
Spiritualists  at  a  time  when  Christian  Scientists  and 
others  were  making  strenuous  efforts  to  convince 
the  public  that  this  much  over-estimated  animal 
magnetism  was  a  source  of  danger,  not  of  benefit 
to  humanity.  Much  of  the  controversy  is  now  prac¬ 
tically  over  because  general  enlightenment  regard¬ 
ing  healing  processes  is  far  more  extensive  than  it 
was  even  a  few  years  ago ;  but  there  is  still  much 
need  for  a  clear  discrimination  between  the  impart- 
ation  of  personal  magnetism  and  the  direct  operation 
of  spiritual  force,  utilizing  the  personality  of  a 
medium  in  the  conveyance  of  healing  potency  from 
the  higher  spiritual  realms,  for  the  relief  of  the 
afflicted.  It  stands  to  reason  that  if  animal  magne¬ 
tism  is  the  prime  requisite  for  healing,  all  confidence 
in  spiritual  intelligence  may  be  largely  discounted, 


58 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


for  in  that  case  a  healthy  physique,  and  probably 
some  idea  of  how  to  manipulate  the  body,  would 
constitute  the  essential  qualifications  of  a  competent 
healer.  That  animal  magnetism  has  its  proper  place 
and  use  we  gladly  admit,  and  we  could  never  think 
of  using  so  disagreeable  a  phrase  as  “malicious 
animal  magnetism” unless  it  were  proved  that  a 
magnetizer  was  actuated  by  malicious  intent  and 
sought  to  employ  some  method  of  magnetizing  to 
accomplish  a  nefarious  end.  When  good-natured 
persons  make  passes  over  sick  persons  with  the 
hope  of  relieving  them  from  suffering,  no  thought 
of  malice  can  possibly  enter  in,  and  it  is  indeed  often 
true  that  benevolent  unseen  helpers  co-operate  with 
these  magnetizers  and  enable  them  to  accomplish 
much  greater  good  than  would  otherwise  be  achiev¬ 
able.  It  is  on  account  of  this  fact  that  physical 
manipulation  has  become  so  greatly  intermingled 
with  genuine  spiritual  healing,  and  it  must  be  re¬ 
membered  that  a  physical  performance  such  as 
“making  passes”  over  the  body  does  not  prevent 
spiritual  healing  from  taking  place,  tho  in  frequent 
instances  the  power  of  the  spirit  is  more  convinc¬ 
ingly  displayed  when  there  is  no  admixture  of  physi¬ 
cal  manipulation.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that  a 
strong  healthy  man  or  woman  possessed  of  a  super¬ 
abundance  of  physical  vitality  should  be  able  to 
impart  some  of  this  surplus  by  laying  on  of  hands, 
and  it  is  equally  easy  to  comprehend  how  a  benevo¬ 
lent  band  of  spiritual  entities,  purposefully  working 
to  heal  the  sick,  should  co-operate  with  such  well- 
meaning  magnetizer  who  is  very  likely  a  good  physi¬ 
cal  medium,  knowingly  or  unknowingly. 

But  giving  all  credit  that  is  due  to  physical 
methods  of  a  rational  order,  we  can  readily  see  how 
extremely  limited  must  be  the  field  of  action  of 
all  healers  who  depend  exclusively  upon  physical 
contact  with  their  patients.  Owing  to  a  desire  to 
greatly  enlarge  the  field  of  beneficent  activity,  re¬ 
course  has  often  been  had  to  the  magnetizing  of  pa- 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


59 


per,  linen,  flannel,  etc.,  and  sending  these  magnet¬ 
ized  articles  to  sufferers  at  a  distance  from  the  home 
of  the  magnetizer.  There  has  arisen  the  claim  that 
such  things  afford  links  not  only  between  healer 
and  patient  in  the  strictly  physical  sense,  but  also 
in  a  definitely  psychical  manner,  and  in  addition  to 
the  general  theory  of  psychometry  has  been  estab¬ 
lished  the  statement  that  healing  spirits  employ  these 
magnetized  articles  as  means  of  connection  between 
themselves  and  the  invalids  who  are  often  greatly 
helped  by  employing  these  peculiar  agencies.  It  is 
impossible  to  deny  that  these  methods  are  very 
ancient,  and  equally  impossible  to  prove  them  value¬ 
less;  however,  they  are  not  so  necessary  in  all  cases 
as  some  persons  have  supposed.  In  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment  many  references  are  made  (especially  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles)  to  practices  in  vogue  in  the 
earliest  Christian  century,  which  were  by  no  means 
original  with  Christianity.  Among  the  most  con¬ 
spicuous  of  these  is  the  story  of  articles  of  wearing 
apparel  taken  from  the  body  of  apostles  and  placed 
on  sick  people  for  the  purpose  of  their  recovery. 
This  usage  carries  us  back  to  Greece  and  Egypt,  and 
reminds  us  of  the  practices  of  the  Therapeutae  from 
whom  we  derive  our  much-employed  word  thera¬ 
peutics.  That  there  is  a  very  close  connection  be¬ 
tween  ancient  and  modern  healing  methods  cannot 
be  questioned  by  students  of  healing  ministries  thru 
a  period  of  at  least  3000  years,  and  as  spirit-com¬ 
munion  is  a  fact  in  Nature  and  cannot  be  confined 
to  any  special  clime  or  race,  it  reasonably  follows 
that  healing  mediumship  has  been  practiced  con¬ 
sciously  and  unconsciously  all  over  the  world  and 
in  all  ages.  The  fact  that  one  may  be  ignorant  of 
spiritual  collaboration  by  no  means  disproves  its 
reality.  It  is  at  this  point  that  Spiritualists  often 
display  less  intelligent  appreciation  of  an  exist¬ 
ing  situation  than  might  be  rightfully  expected  of 
avowed  students  of  the  philosophy  of  psychical 
intercommunication.  It  is  not  so  much  what  we 


60 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


believe  as  what  we  love;  not  so  much  what  we 
know  as  what  we  desire  to  accomplish,  that  links 
us  with  unseen  helpers;  it  therefore  follows  that 
clairvoyant  testimony  is  often  given  to  spiritual  co¬ 
operation  which  may  take  place  without  any  knowl¬ 
edge  on  the  part  of  the  healer  who  intellectually 
disowns  it  because  it  has  never  been  proved  to  his 
satisfaction. 

Many  physicians  are  kind-hearted  men  and 
women  who  seek  to  do  their  utmost  to  relieve  the 
distress  of  all  who  apply  to  them  for  aid.  Many  of 
these  doctors  are  entirely  agnostic  in  their  thought 
so  far  as  spiritual  agencies  are  concerned,  and  they 
say  frankly  that  they  know  nothing  about  spiritual 
helpers  in  the  work  of  their  profession.  We  can 
readily  accept  their  asservations  at  face  value;  but 
ignorance  on  the  mundane  side  does  not  imply 
equal  ignorance  on  the  psychical  side  of  our  exist¬ 
ence,  and  it  is  never  true  that  simple  ignorance  of 
the  spirit  world  proves  lack  of  co-operation  there¬ 
with.  We  will  take  a  typical  example:  A  doctor 
who  is  mediumistic,  but  knows  it  not,  is  doing  his 
or  her  utmost  to  overcome  a  painful  or  obstinate  ail¬ 
ment  in  a  patient  who  is  also  more  sensitive  than 
he  knows.  All  that  appears  on  the  outer  plane  is 
that  two  persons  are  together  in  the  relation  of 
healer  and  patient,  but  a  clairvoyant  may  see  others 
also,  because  the  spirit-associates  of  both  doctor 
and  patient  are  interesting  themselves  in  the  case 
and  doing  their  utmost  to  help  in  the  good  work 
attempted.  It  often  happens  that  persons  are 
helped  in  mysterious  ways  that  they  cannot  ade¬ 
quately  explain  by  reference  to  any  or  all  of  the 
knowledge  at  their  outward  disposal.  In  such  in¬ 
stances  we  hear  vaguely  of  the  operation  of  “the 
healing  force  in  Nature,”  but  no  intelligible  explana¬ 
tion  is  forthcoming  as  to  the  nature  of  that  healing 
energy  nor  of  the  method  of  its  operation.  It  is 
acknowledged  to  exist  and  operate,  but  it  remains 
mysterious.  We  often  hear  of  “suggestion,”  an 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


61 


extremely  comprehensive  word  often  adorned  with 
many  prefixes,  such  as  “auto,"  "heter,”  etc.,  but  to 
employ  academic  terminology  is  not  to  explain  any 
vital  process  adequately,  for  at  the  utmost  such  use 
of  language  can  only  provoke  desire  for  fuller  in¬ 
formation  on  the  part  of  an  enquiring  public.  Sug¬ 
gestion  is  not  an  end  in  itself,  but  it  is  a  powerful 
means  to  an  end  in  many  instances,  and  it  has  its 
place  in  healing  mediumship  indubitably.  The 
healing  medium  may  be  (and  often  is)  an  illiterate 
person,  sometimes  even  an  untutored  child,  but  that 
makes  no  difference  from  a  spiritual  standpoint, 
because  only  sensitiveness  of  organization,  and  free¬ 
dom  from  psychical  obstructions,  is  necessary  to 
the  expression  of  any  phase  of  mediumship.  The 
question  becomes  rather  more  difficult  to  handle 
when  prescriptions  are  given  purporting  to  emanate 
from  "Indian  Guides,”  who  have  figured  very 
largely  among  healing  mediums  in  America,  on 
account  of  medical  legislation  ruling  that  no  one 
must  practice  medicine  without  a  license.  Spiritual¬ 
ists  have  often  fought  against  medical  monopoly 
on  the  ground  of  its  unconstitutional  character  and 
many  patients  have  testified  gratefully  to  their 
rescuance  from  painful  maladies  thru  the  good 
offices  of  mediumistic  persons  who  have  been 
arrested  for  daring  to  do  good  to  their  suffering 
neighbors  without  bowing  before  the  Moloch  of 
medical  tyranny.  But  even  should  it  be  found 
illegal  to  prescribe  herb  tea  unless  one  is  the  proud 
possessor  of  a  diploma  or  certificate  from  some 
acknowledged  medical  college,  the  work  of  the 
spiritual  healer  cannot  be  interrupted  by  any  legis¬ 
lation  whatever,  for  it  can  be  carried  forward  silently 
or  thru  the  agency  of  music,  and  in  numerous  other 
ways  into  which  the  practice  of  medicine  and  surgery 
does  not  and  cannot  enter.  It  is  feasible  to  insist 
that  no  one  should  administer  drugs  or  perform 
operations  without  having  become  duly  qualified, 
but  happily,  healing  mediumship  does  not  consist 


62 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


in  giving  drugs,  or  in  using  surgical  instruments,  for 
it  is  an  efficient  substitute  for  those  often  barbarous 
practices.  When  a  bone  is  fractured  or  a  joint  dis¬ 
located,  a  competent  surgeon  is  the  proper  person 
to  correct  the  misplacement  or  repair  the  damage, 
no  matter  whether  that  qualified  anatomist  has 
graduated  from  a  special  school  or  not;  but  in  the 
multitude  of  nervous  cases  which  are  now  prevalent 
healing  mediumship  often  proves  an  all-efficient 
panacea  after  medical  treatment  has  been  weighed 
in  the  balance  of  bitter  experiences  and  found 
lamentably  wanting. 

The  old  question  in  Macbeth:  “Can’st  thou  min¬ 
ister  to  a  mind  diseased?’’  may  well  be  put  to  the 
healing  medium,  and  it  is  often  answered  fully  in 
the  affirmative.  Shakespeare  told  us  of  a  good 
doctor  declaring  that  in  this  each  one  must 
minister  to  himself,  and  such  is  indeed  true,  but 
just  as  a  physician  may  administer  medicine;  but 
the  patient  must  take  it, — and  the  same  with  advice 
if  it  is  to  prove  of  any  service, — so  in  the  field 
of  psychic  healing  there  is  much  for  a  patient  to  do 
in  changing  the  current  of  his  own  thoughts  and 
treading  henceforth  along  a  new  mental  pathway 
marked  out  by  the  competent  and  kindly  healer. 

It  is  never  denied,  so  far  as  we  know,  in  any 
medical  or  other  circles,  that  many  deep-seated  and 
long-standing  disorders  are  undeniably  traced  to 
some  “rooted  sorrow"  which  no  drug  or  scalpel 
can  remove.  It  is  often  only  thru  the  ministrations 
of  mediumship  that  this  grief  can  be  assuaged,  and 
therefore  without  any  reference  to  magnetic  passes, 
or  aught  else  external,  mediumistic  persons  may  min¬ 
ister  in  ways  unique  and  competent.  Bereavement 
is  frequently  followed  by  a  general  lowering  of  the 
tone  of  vitality  in  the  bereaved  person,  and  the  sor¬ 
row  occasioned  by  an  actual  physical  dissolution  is 
greatly  augmented  by  the  dense  materialism  of  rela¬ 
tives  and  friends  and  the  odious  unsanitary  habit  of 
“going  into  mourning.”  A  dense  veil  of  sorrow 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


63 


encompasses  the  grief-stricken  sufferer,  which  no 
magnetism  and  no  medicine  can  dissolve.  It  cer¬ 
tainly  sometimes  happens  that  a  little  strength  is 
given  by  a  vigorous  manipulator  and  sleep  is  some¬ 
times  induced  by  mental  suggestion ;  but  despite 
this  alleviation  of  distress,  the  root  of  the  matter  re¬ 
mains  untouched  in  the  case  of  keenly  sensitive  and 
tenderly  affectionate  natures.  Persons  of  somewhat 
callous  feeling  and  usually  exuberant  temperament 
may  get  over’’  bereavements  easily  and  quickly, 
but  the  tender-hearted  and  less  buoyant  suffer  im¬ 
mensely  and  oftener  grieve  more  in  silence  than 
aloud.  It  is  this  silent  brooding  sorrow  that  under¬ 
mines  health  and  eventually  breaks  down  a  consti¬ 
tution  beyond  recovery.  The  healing  medium,  in 
consequence  of  mediumship,  can  and  often  does  so 
far  alleviate  this  pitiful  distress  as  to  restore  the  suf¬ 
ferer  from  grief  to  health  and  buoyancy;  indeed 
numerous  are  the  cases  which  have  been  so  success¬ 
fully  dealt  with  spiritually  that  a  new  lease  of  life  has 
actually  been  taken  and  the  person  helped  has  gone 
forward  to  the  enjoyment  of  a  fuller,  happier  and 
far  more  useful  life  than  he  or  she  was  capable  of 
living  before  the  affliction  came,  which  was  turned 
into  a  blessing  thru  spiritual  ministrations. 

Healing  mediumship  is  no  rival  of  anything  else; 
it  is  an  infusive  and  diffusive  influence  working  thru 
all  honorable  and  useful  agencies.  A  healing  medi¬ 
um  need  not  be  a  person  exclusively  devoted  to  a 
special  work  apart  from  common  industries,  for  very 
often  the  most  successful  healing  is  accomplished 
thru  very  ordinary  channels. 

As  music  is  extremely  popular,  and  it  is  now 
brought  within  the  reach  of  almost  everyone,  we 
deem  it  of  great  importance  to  insist  that  lovers 
of  music  who  can  also  display  some  renditional 
ability  should  consecrate  their  beautiful  gift  more 
largely  to  the  direct  work  of  healing  than  has  yet 
been  widely  attempted.  Mechanical  music  may 
answer  well  enough  for  simple  entertainment  and 


64 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


even  a  victrola  may  be  pressed  into  healing  service 
by  a  discriminating  selector  of  records  who  purpose¬ 
fully  choses  certain  selections  because  of  their  help¬ 
ful  vibratory  suggestiveness.  But  it  is  the  human 
voice  in  song,  even  more  than  in  speech,  which  can 
become  a  powerful  healing  agent,  for  thru  this 
medium  the  inner  breath  (prana)  can  be  conveyed 
thru  the  instrumentality  of  outer  breathing  and  it  is 
pranic  energy  which  vitalizes  and  tranquilizes  as 
nothing  external  ever  can.  As  our  unseen  helpers 
are  ever  ready  to  co-operate  with  us  in  every  benev¬ 
olent  undertaking,  we  never  need  to  invoke  kindly 
spiritual  beings  as  tho  it  were  difficult  to  get  in  touch 
with  them,  as  tho  they  needed  persuading  to  lend 
us  their  kindly  and  efficient  aid;  for  they  are  ever 
ready  and  always  within  call.  It  is  by  quiet  confi¬ 
dence,  coupled  with  sincere  desire  to  be  of  real  serv¬ 
ice,  that  we  mingle  our  aspirations  with  the  inten¬ 
tions  of  the  hosts  of  light,  and  as  we  grow  more 
and  more  nearly  universal  in  our  desire  and  deter¬ 
mination  to  bless  humanity  we  shall  become  increas¬ 
ingly  aware  of  the  law  of  spiritual  co-operation  and 
acknowledge  our  true  fellowship  relation  with  those 
in  spiritual  spheres  whose  special  mission  it  is  to  lead 
incarnate  humanity  out  of  the  paths  of  error,  and  its 
consequent  suffering,  along  the  highway  of  health 
and  peace,  which  is  the  road  of  righteousness. 


LESSON  VIII. 


The  Law  and  Gift  of  Prophecy — Its  Nature 
And  Exercise 

Among  the  nine  gifts  of  the  Spirit  enumerated  in 
the  I  2th  chapter  of  the  1  st  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
we  find  Prophecy  extolled  above  all  others.  In  the 
1  4th  chapter  of  the  same  epistle  the  apostolic  writer 
gives  his  reason  for  thus  exalting  prophecy  when  he 
declares  that  it  edifies  the  entire  Holy  Assembly. 
The  Church  referred  to  so  frequently  in  the  New 
Testament  is  unquestionably  a  spiritually  federated 
company  of  enlightened  individuals  who  form  a 
mystical  corporation  called  the  Body  of  Christ,  in 
which  all  the  members  are  united  by  a  bond  of  com¬ 
mon  fellowship,  pursuing  the  same  high  ideals  and 
unitedly  conscious  of  their  work  as  world-enlighten¬ 
ers.  Among  these  variously  illumined  men,  women 
and  children,  various  gifts  and  endowments  are  dis¬ 
played,  all  emanating  from  the  same  Divine  Source, 
called  the  One  Spirit. 

None  of  these  qualifications  could  be  dispensed 
with,  for  all  are  necessary  to  the  upbuilding  of  the 
entire  Spiritual  community  and  the  proper  dis¬ 
charge  of  the  manifold  functions  of  such  an  organ¬ 
ization.  But  tho  all  are  necessary  to  the  complete¬ 
ness  of  the  organism,  which  is  a  perfect  Human 
Body  consisting  of  members  and  organs,  each  ful¬ 
filling  an  appointed  end  of  predetermined  service, 
and  no  member  can  rightfully  despise  another,  all 
being  honorable  and  useful,  still  the  rank  of  Prophet 
is  in  a  sense  higher  than  that  of  any  other  type  or 
member.  We  know  full  well  that  we  can  sustain 
physical  existence  personally,  and  do  fairly  efficient 
work  along  many  lines,  tho  deprived  of  such  serv¬ 
iceable  members  as  hands  and  feet  and  even  of 
eyes,  but  brain  and  heart  are  indispensable  to  con- 

65 


66 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


tinued  existence,  and  if  these  organs  were  removed 
it  could  not  be  easy  to  replace  them  by  artificial  sub¬ 
stitutes,  even  tho  surgery  were  to  make  such  extraor¬ 
dinary  progress  as  to  introduce  artificial  heart  and 
brain,  which  now  appears  highly  improbable.  A 
sense  of  relative  importance  is  never  inconsistent 
with  due  appreciation  of  every  part  of  our  complex 
human  mechanism.  In  like  manner  we  are  justified 
in  esteeming  some  spiritual  gifts  or  endowments  as 
more  nearly  indispensable  to  human  welfare  than  are 
others. 

But  if  Prophecy  be  placed  in  so  exalted  a  posi¬ 
tion  as  to  tower  above  all  other  gifts  in  an  illumined 
fellowship,  we  ought  to  clearly  understand  what  this 
Prophecy  is  and  what  are  the  special  functions  of  a 
true  prophet  or  prophetess.  Seership  is  the  other 
name  of  prophecy,  therefore  seers  and  seeresses  are 
the  same  as  prophets  and  prophetesses.  There  are 
at  least  four  distinct  kinds  of  vision,  or  four  attitudes 
of  vision,  two  of  which  are  common  to  ordinary  per¬ 
sons  at  all  times  and  everywhere,  and  two  of  which 
are  specially  characteristic  of  those  who  exercise  the 
gift  or  power  of  prophecy.  Our  two  common  every¬ 
day  visual  attitudes  are,  as  we  well  know,  looking 
outward  and  looking  backward;  for  we  all  exercise 
the  faculty  of  exterior  observation  more  or  less  per¬ 
fectly,  and  we  all  employ  memory  in  some  greater 
or  lesser  measure.  The  prophet  is  one  who  turns 
his  gaze  inward  rather  than  outward  and  forward 
instead  of  backward,  thereby  becoming  possessed 
of  kinds  of  information  to  which  non-prophetic  per¬ 
sons  are  perforce  strangers. 

To  the  four  attitudes  of  vision  already  enumerated 
and  described  we  may  well  add  a  fifth,  viz,  looking 
upward  and  looking  downward.  The  ordinary  per¬ 
son  may  be  said  to  usually  look  in  three  directions — 
outward,  backward  and  downward.  The  prophet 
also  looks  in  three  directions — inward,  forward  and 
upward.  “I  will  lift  up  my  eyes  to  the  hills  whence 
cometh  my  help,”  is  figuratively  and  literally  sug- 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


67 


gestive  of  the  prophetic  attitude,  for  we  do,  in  every 
sense,  derive  far  more  inspiration  and  enlightenment 
by  upward  than  by  downward  gazing.  The  prophets 
are  also  spoken  of  as  retiring  into  quiet  and  retired 
places. 

“In  the  mount”  is  a  Biblical  phrase  descriptive  of 
the  position  of  Moses  at  a  time  when  he  received  the 
plan  for  the  erection  of  the  Temple  of  Solomon, 
which  typifies  a  truly  federated  humanity.  Elijah 
enters  into  a  cave  or  cleft  of  a  rock  and  in  serene 
retirement  from  the  outer  world  receives  information 
concerning  spiritual  realities  otherwise  unattainable. 
The  great  prophets  or  prophetesses  of  ancient  Israel, 
like  their  early  Christian  successors,  were  all  accus¬ 
tomed,  according  to  the  narratives  in  our  possession, 
to  betake  themselves  to  sequestered  places  and  there 
listen  to  a  Voice  heard  only  in  silence. 

It  is  not  incorrect  to  identify  bards  or  poets  with 
prophets,  for  almost  all  the  finest  and  most  illuminat¬ 
ing  prophetic  utterances  extant  are  practically  poet¬ 
ry.  Not  necessarily  do  prophets  prophecy  in  rhyme 
or  in  stately  blank  verse,  but  they  employ  similitudes 
which  are  as  true  for  all  periods  as  for  the  particular 
time  when  the  words  are  spoken. 

Edwin  Markham,  himself  a  noble  poet,  pays  sub¬ 
lime  tribute  to  the  great  messages  which  the  world’s 
inspired  and  inspiring  bards  have  given  to  all  ages, 
and  these  heroic  poets  have  proved  prophets  always 
in  the  fullest  meaning  of  the  term.  We  are  all  famil¬ 
iar  with  Robert  Browning’s  splendid  line  in  Abt  Vog- 
ler,  “  ’Tis  We  Musicians  Know.”  By  the  word  musi¬ 
cian  in  that  connection  he  unquestionably  implies 
poet-prophets,  who  may  indeed  be  gracefully  styled 
“sweet  singers  in  Israel.” 

To  the  vulgar  mind  a  prophet  is  a  curious  some¬ 
what  uncanny  person  who  doles  out  more  or  less 
vague  and  terrifying  predictions  of  disasters  about 
to  befall  communities  and  individuals.  The  amount 
of  pessimistic  rubbish  mistaken  for  prophecy  is 
enough  to  justify  unenlightened  persons  when  they 


68 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSH1P 


sneer  at  prophecy  altogether  and  point  to  the  masses 
of  unfulfilled  predictions  which  have  caused  mis¬ 
chievous  dread  in  the  minds  of  numerous  timid  and 
credulous  individuals.  If  such  prophets  were  only 
placed  in  popular  esteem  where  they  rightfully  be¬ 
long  in  the  Frog  Ministry  (vide  Rev.  XVI),  their 
gruesome  utterances  would  not  cause  the  needless 
alarm  and  mental  suffering  they  often  occasion,  but 
there  seems  to  be  a  fixed  tendency  in  many  per¬ 
verted  minds  to  credit  as  true,  or  at  least  as  highly 
probable,  whatever  is  calamitous,  and  from  that  un¬ 
reasonable  cause  springs  the  misplaced  confidence 
placed  in  false  prophets  who  are  often  only  intensely 
hysterical  and  not  intentionally  deceptive. 

We  read  a  great  many  prophecies  made  by  sen¬ 
sational  neurotics  which  are  never  fulfilled.  Dates 
were  set  for  earthquakes  and  other  terrible  calam¬ 
ities  to  occur  in  California  during  February,  1914, 
but  the  month  passed  without  any  of  these  terrors 
eventuating.  It  is  never  safe  or  wise  to  look  for¬ 
ward  to  calamities  unless  we  can  be  morally  certain 
that  there  is  some  more  solid  foundation  for  a  pre¬ 
diction  than  the  excited  phantasy  of  a  highly  emo¬ 
tional  sensitive  giving  way  to  a  disposition  to  cater 
to  a  popular  love  of  the  fright-inspiring. 

A  true  prophet  is  a  seer  or  seeress  who  possesses 
the  penetrative  insight  that  sees  thru  outward  sem¬ 
blances  and  discerns  what  can  never  meet  the  casual 
eye.  There  is  undoubtedly  a  fixed  relation  between 
cause  and  effects  that  can  never  be  interfered  with, 
and  it  is  only  thru  fuller  than  ordinary  acquaintance 
with  this  unchanging  order  that  genuine  prophecies 
can  be  made.  There  are  distinctly  two  varieties  of 
prophets,  each  genuine  and  valuable,  classifiable 
under  the  following  heads:  (1)  Prophets  who  are 
such  by  virtue  of  their  own  enlightened  perceptive¬ 
ness;  (2)  Prophetic  mediums  who  are  not  prophets 
themselves  but  instruments  thru  which  prophetic  ut¬ 
terances  can  be  given. 

In  the  first  of  these  categories  we  must  place  those 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


69 


who  deserve  to  be  styled  Adepts  or  Initiates.  In  the 
second  rank  we  must  place  honest  susceptible  per¬ 
sons  who  receive  and  transmit  information  they  are 
incapable  of  discovering  at  firsthand. 

Modern  philosophy  is  rapidly  throwing  off  all  ma¬ 
terialistic  incubi  and  addressing  itself  fearlessly  and 
dispassionately  to  problems  of  Psychical  Research. 
The  obvious  result  of  this  excellent  trend  to  philo¬ 
sophical  study  is  to  awaken  public  interest  in  the 
reality  of  a  larger  world  than  that  discoverable  by 
the  unsupplemented  findings  of  our  five  bodily 
senses  as  commonly  restricted. 

The  Astral  Realm  is  now  a  term  becoming  so 
familiar  to  general  readers  of  literature  bordering  on 
the  Theosophical  or  occult,  that  we  are  beginning 
to  find  a  large  public  ready  to  appreciate  references 
to  this  inner  and  larger  realm  of  matter,  for  it  is  a 
material  realm  in  the  broader  sense  in  which  we  may 
legitimately  speak  of  matter,  tho  not  in  the  foolishly 
narrow  sense  in  which  the  word  has  long  been  ignor¬ 
antly  confined.  The  realm  of  thought  and  imagina¬ 
tion  is  the  kingdom  of  the  spirit  which  creates  forms 
in  subtler  matter  before  they  can  be  translated  into 
grosser  matter,  and  thus  fully  “materialized”  before 
objective  carnal  vision.  A  seer  can  behold  a  thought- 
form  or  mentoid  as  clearly  as  a  person  with  ordinary 
physical  sight  can  see  an  external  object  on  the  plane 
of  physical  ultimatum.  Now,  one  kind  of  true  pro¬ 
phecy,  tho  not  the  highest,  is  due  to  observation  of 
what  has  already  occurred  on  the  astral  plane,  or  is 
now  occurring  there,  and  will  eventually  be  dupli¬ 
cated  or  represented  in  the  field  of  grossest  material 
activity.  All  growth  is  from  within  outward.  Im¬ 
agination  is  the  formative  faculty  without  which  no 
inventor  could  devise  a  plan  for  future  physical  out- 
carrying.  An  inventor  is  in  a  very  true  sense  a  pro¬ 
phet,  for  he  actually  foresees  and  foretells  what  will 
subsequently  be  externalized,  and  his  dreams  come 
actually  true.  “The  stuff  that  dreams  are  made  of” 
needs  further  analysis  and,  as  we  proceed  with  our 


70 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


analysis  we  frequently  discover  that  dreams  are  often 
so  prophetic  that  we  have  seen  every  detail  of  an 
event  on  the  astral  plane  prior  to  its  fulfillment  on 
the  physical.  A  misconception  of  the  relation  be¬ 
tween  the  astral  and  physical  realms  has  led  to  a 
fatalistic  perversion  of  the  idea  of  prophecy;  it  hav¬ 
ing  often  been  taught  that  we  are  either  slaves  to 
blind  necessitiy  or  else  compelled  to  carry  out  the 
will  of  superior  intelligences  without  our  own  voli¬ 
tion,  when  in  reality  this  stupendous  false  doctrine 
has  been  built  upon  a  primal  misconception  regard¬ 
ing  the  priority  of  mental  creations  and  the  subse¬ 
quence  of  physical  results. 

A  prophet  may  clearly  see  that  seed  has  already 
been  sown  in  a  plot  of  earth  which  gives  no  outward 
indications  of  such  impregnation,  therefore  it  looks 
as  tho  some  blind  necessity  or  arbitrary  fate  were 
working  if  a  certain  harvest  springs  up  exactly  when 
and  where  the  seer  predicated  it  would  appear.  But 
the  intelligent  prophet,  or  any  thoughtful  person  fa¬ 
miliar  with  a  reasonable  view  of  prophecy,  knows 
that  insight  in  that  case,  and  accurate  calculation 
from  cause  to  effect,  led  to  the  prediction  being  ful¬ 
filled.  On  the  mental  plane,  and  in  the  field  of  all 
our  spiritual  activities,  precisely  the  same  rule  holds 
good.  If  a  certain  cause  inevitably  leads  onward  to 
a  certain  effect,  then  it  is  for  the  prophet  to  tell  what 
must  be  the  outcome  of  cause  already  set  in  motion. 
Life,  then,  becomes  far  more  rational  and  far  more 
under  our  volitional  control  than  tho  we  remained 
ignorant  of  this  law  of  sequence.  Prophets,  far  from 
being  merely  fortune  tellers  or  prognosticators  of 
future  events,  are  exhorters  unto  righteousness  and 
the  most  practical  and  useful  of  all  our  various 
groups  of  teachers.  To  the  unthinking  and  unreason¬ 
ing  man  or  woman  life  is  a  game  of  chance  or  else 
a  dire  necessity  at  every  turn.  Health  and  sickness, 
joy  and  sorrow,  success  and  failure,  all  seem  to  be 
portioned  out  to  each  one  of  us  in  such  a  manner 
that  we  can  only  take  whatever  comes  and  submit  to 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


71 


the  inevitable.  Stoicism  is  regarded  by  many  per¬ 
sons  today  as  the  summit  of  philosophy,  but  it  is  far 
from  being  a  superlative  even  when  optimistic  in  its 
final  implications. 

The  doctrine  of  Karma,  now  so  much  discussed, 
lends  itself  either  to  Fatalism  or  to  an  acceptance  of 
the  purer  doctrine  we  will  call  Prophetism,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  side  from  which  it  is  approached.  Pro¬ 
phets  with  their  clear  interior  vision  may  be  able  to 
read  much  that  is  veiled  from  ordinary  eyes,  there¬ 
fore  they  may  be  competent  to  assign  causes  for 
present  effects  which  lie  beyond  all  common  ranges 
in  vision.  We  may  have  come  into  the  world  with 
certain  predispositions  which  we  cannot  help  meet¬ 
ing,  no  matter  how  valiantly  we  may  confront  them, 
therefore  they  may  constitute  a  portion  of  our  now 
inevitable  Karma.  But  a  true  prophetic  ministry 
teaches  us  how  to  handle  these  limitations  and  seem¬ 
ing  drawbacks  in  such  a  way  as  to  transmute  ap¬ 
parent  curses  into  actual  blessings,  and  this  can 
never  be  done  without  combined  resolution  and 
knowledge.  If  a  prophet  speaks  to  the  edification  of 
the  entire  Church,  then  we  can  only  be  edified  by 
making  practical  use  of  prophetic  exhortations.  It 
seems  impossible  to  overate  the  importance  of  the 
prophetic  gift  when  once  we  regard  it  as  an  all-in¬ 
cluding  ability  to  peer  below  all  external  surfaces 
and  penetrate  into  the  veritable  arcanum  of  the  im¬ 
memorial  Mysteries.  The  Mysteries  are  so  often  re¬ 
ferred  to  in  the  various  Epistles,  and  initiation  into 
them  was  once  so  highly  esteemed,  that  it  seems 
incredible  that  the  exterior  church  should  have  so 
utterly  repudiated  them  as  to  have  lost  sight  of  their 
very  existence  except  to  the  extent  of  having  pre¬ 
served  some  account  of  them  as  pertaining  to  aban¬ 
doned  usages  peculiar  to  departed  centuries. 

The  essential  difference  between  priests  and 
prophets  is  never  difficult  to  comprehend,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  a  priesthood  is  always  bound 
by  the  laws  of  its  constitution  to  follow  a  prescribed 


72 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSHIP 


path  alike  in  doctrine  and  in  ritual.  Prophetic  min¬ 
istries  are  apt  to  give  great  trouble  to  any  conserva¬ 
tive  organization  if  they  are  exercised  within  any 
such  enclosure,  because  no  one  can  hold  a  prophet 
to  established  precedent,  or  compel  a  prophetic 
utterance  to  conform  to  any  established  order. 

In  the  primitive  Christian  church  the  prophets 
held  a  position  similar  to  that  held  by  the  Oracles 
in  the  pre-Christian  centuries  and  tho’  there  were 
often  unpleasant  exhibitions  of  lawlessness  among 
prophets  who  exercised  no  wise  restraint  over  their 
emotions,  in  all  cases  where  prophets  were  well 
balanced  persons  there  was  no  confusion.  There 
are  in  these  days  frequent  outbursts  of  prophecying 
among  bodies  of  people  whose  ecclesiastical  organ¬ 
ization  is  somewhat  free  and  easy,  and  tho’  many 
of  the  predictions  made  by  seemingly  irresponsible 
persons  are  not  completely  verified,  there  is  almost 
always  a  substratum  of  verity  to  make  it  well  worth 
while  to  examine  the  predictions  with  a  view  to 
sifting  out,  from  much  that  may  be  termed  alloy, 
the  precious  metal  which  inheres. 

We  could  not  obey  the  wise  apostolic  injunction, 
“Prove  all  things  and  hold  fast  that  which  is  good,” 
were  we  either  to  blindly  accept  or  blindly  reject 
the  many  words  of  doubtful  testimony  which  are 
often  brought  to  our  eyes  and  ears,  however  we  may 
be  situated,  and  it  is  exactly  at  this  point  that  we 
need  to  rid  our  minds  completely  of  the  insane  de¬ 
lusion  that  because  some  prophecies  are  unfulfilled, 
therefore  all  coming  thru  the  same  channel  must  be 
equally  foundationless. 

Vision  on  the  psychic  plane,  or  in  the  astral  realm, 
is  usually  imperfect,  except  in  the  case  of  seers, 
whose  seership  is  phenomenally  acute  and  whose 
general  mode  of  life  is  conducive  to  the  unfettered 
exercise  of  prophetical  endowments.  Mal-obser- 
vation  must  never  be  confounded  with  wilful  falsifi¬ 
cation,  for  it  is  an  error  that  can  be  corrected  by 
improved  ways  of  living  and  by  the  practice  of 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


73 


complete  consecration  to  an  acceptable  ministry. 
The  oracles  connected  with  the  Greek  temples,  at  a 
time  when  Greece  was  enjoying  the  full  splendor  of 
her  highest  achievements,  devoted  their  lives  entirely 
to  their  prophetic  work  during  the  period  given  over 
to  this  special  ministry.  Oracles  were  not  consultable 
by  every  passerby  who  chose  for  a  small  monetary 
consideration  to  invade  the  privacy  of  the  seer  and 
have  a  “sitting”  with  the  oracle.  So  carefully  guarded 
were  these  super-sensitive  youths  and  maidens,  who 
were  esteemed  far  more  highly  than  it  is  custom¬ 
ary  to  esteem  exceptionally  endowed  individuals 
today,  that  it  was  considered  a  rare  privilege  to  be 
permitted  to  interview  any  one  of  them.  Modern 
societies  for  Psychical  Research  have  endeavored 
to  some  considerable  extent  to  follow  this  ancient 
usage,  therefore  when  a  sensitive  has  been  selected 
for  investigative  persons  she  has  been  secluded 
from  the  general  public  and  interviews  with  her 
have  been  impossible  to  obtain  without  a  special 
passport  from  the  officers  of  the  society  under  whose 
auspices  she  has  been  operating.  There  is  much 
to  be  said  in  favor  of  this  seclusiveness,  which 
appeals  far  more  readily  to  the  scientific  than  to 
the  common  mind,  because  all  scientific  explorers 
know  how  vitally  essential  to  success  along  all  lines 
of  research  are  necessary  conditions.  But  if  one 
is  only  a  superficial  scientist  aware  of  necessary 
physical  conditions,  but  no  more,  the  subtler  aspects 
of  necessary  conditions  are  perforce  unheeded.  It 
is  in  the  mental  realm,  in  the  field  of  thought  and 
emotion,  that  conditions  are  far  more  important 
than  on  the  simply  physical  plane  of  demonstration; 
consequently  Tho^  all  outward  circumstances  favor 
the  best  results,  some  inward  perturbation  often 
suffices  to  prevent  any  exhibition  or  lucidity  on  the 
part  of  a  sensitive  seeress  whose  interior  condition 
must  be  peaceful  in  order  that  any  picture  can  be 
successfully  thrown  upon  the  astral  screen,  which 
is  the  field  of  her  psychic  vision.  Indistinct  or  con- 


74 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


fused  vision  is  the  greatest  drawback  to  prophetic 
lucidity  regardless  of  whether  the  form  of  prophecy 
be  thru  vision  or  thru  voice;  for  the  voices  heard 
and  the  objects  perceived  with  the  eye  and  ear  of 
the  inner  body  can  only  be  corrected  and  detected 
and  differentiated  when  the  auric  belt  or  atmos¬ 
phere  of  the  prophet  is  like  unto  “a  sea  of  glass.” 
We  all  know  how  painful  and  excited  feelings  cause 
a  sense  of  flutter  in  the  region  of  the  solar  plexus, 
which  may  spread  thru  the  entire  body  and  occasion 
severe  distress  in  many  directions  if  not  quickly 
mastered.  To  the  vision  of  a  seer  this  physical  dis¬ 
turbance  is  held  as  originating  in  an  upset  state  of 
the  auric  envelope  or  belt  which  surrounds  every  one 
of  us  and  which  is  a  sort  of  photosphere  in  which 
the  objects  of  the  psychic  realm  can  be  reflected. 
Very  often  a  prophet  speaks  of  reading  characters 
distinctly  traced  upon  a  “flying  scroll,”and  it  is  by 
no  means  uncommon  for  sensitive  persons  to  see 
words  and  shapes  clearly  outlined  on  the  palimpsest 
of  the  atmosphere. 

Why  should  it  be  thought  unreasonable  in  these 
days  of  earnest  and  world-wide  enquiry  into  psychic 
mysteries  to  plead  for  a  School  of  the  Prophets  and 
to  demand  that  opportunities  be  given  for  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  a  prophetic  ministry  to  meet  the 
loudly  crying  needs  of  these  greatly  agitated  times? 
Training  schools  for  ministers  of  religion,  like  schools 
for  physicians  and  lawyers,  furnish  external  inform¬ 
ation  derivable  from  study  of  literature,  sometimes 
coupled  with  physical  experimentation;  but  the 
psychic  faculty,  without  which  there  can  be  no 
qualification  for  the  prophetic  office,  is  not  devel¬ 
oped,  but  rather  is  it  often  repressed  and  stultified 
by  collegiate  exercises.  University  graduates  are 
not  as  a  rule,  in  any  sense  prophetic;  they  are  apt 
to  be  intellectually  rigid  and  confined  within  narrow 
conventionalized  limits  of  mental  action,  incapaci¬ 
tated  rather  than  assisted  by  their  formal  training 
to  act  as  prophets.  Apostolic  succession  is  claimed 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


75 


by  the  external  Church  as  its  perpetual  heritage,  but 
there  is  very  little  proof  that  the  claim  has  any  sure 
foundation,  because  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  which 
accompanied  the  apostles  of  old  seem  almost  entirely 
absent  in  their  alleged  successors.  “Even  so  perse¬ 
cuted  they  the  Prophets  (not  priests)  who  were 
before  you,”  is  an  eye-opening  text  usually  read 
with  closed  eyelids.  Sacerdotalism  smothers  pro¬ 
phecy;  for  that  reason  there  is  an  outcry  today 
against  that  oppressive  externalism  which  has  been 
the  chief  bane  of  institutionalized  Christianity,  cer¬ 
tainly  since  the  days  of  Constantine  who  secularized 
religion  without  spiritualizing  the  nations. 

Judaism,  and  indeed  all  the  great  religious  sys¬ 
tems  of  the  world,  have  been  so  deeply  immersed 
in  formalism  that  the  voice  of  prophecy  is  rarely 
heard  within  any  dignified  temple  walls.  It  is  out¬ 
side  the  temples  and  among  the  unchurched  that  the 
gifts  of  the  Spirit  today  stand  the  best  chance  of 
ready  heeding.  No  society  or  stilted  organization  I 
of  any  kind  proves  a  favorable  field  for  prophetic 
ministries,  because  prophets  can  never  be  held 
within  traces,  and  there  is  good  reason  why  there 
should  not  be  palings  placed  around  their  fiery 
ministry.  Pioneers  cannot  be  followers  of  conven¬ 
tions.  Setters  of  new  systems  cannot  be  slaves  to 
old  customs,  and  it  is  pre-eminently  the  work  of 
the  prophet  to  blaze  a  fresh  trail  and  lead  a  people 
out  of  bondage  into  a  new  and  better  pasture-field. 

If  prophets  are  not  heard  their  utterances  cannot 
be  fairly  judged,  and  tho’  it  is  the  height  of  folly 
to  accept  as  infallibly  accurate  and  authoritative 
all  prophetic  utterances,  it  is  fair  and  reasonable 
whenever  a  spiritual  gift  shows  itself  in  any  person 
to  allow  that  gift  such  freedom  of  expression  that 
we  may  have  the  opportunity  to  derive  from  its 
unfettered  exercise  whatever  it  may  be  able  to 
bestow  for  our  enlightenment.  Make  no  claims  for 
the  source  whence  information  flows.  Simply  let 
the  utterances  flow  and  allow  subsequent  occur- 


76 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


ranees  to  prove  how  far  the  predictions  have  been 
justified.  Such  is  the  sane  and  sober  rule  to  follow— 
in  regard  to  predictive  utterances  in  general.  Special 
manifestations  of  unusual  character  may,  of  course, 
call  for  special  consideration,  and  particular  cases 
may  demand  special  treatment,  but  of  these  we  can¬ 
not  speak  or  write  definitely  in  lessons  intended  only 
for  general  helpfulness. 


LESSON  IX 

Mediumship  and  Moral  Character 

The  ever  recurring  question  of  the  relation  be¬ 
tween  mediumship  and  moral  character  is  one  that 
cannot  be  disposed  of  anything  like  so  easily  as  at 
first  sight  might  appear.  To  quote  the  old  adages, 
“Birds  of  a  feather  flock  together”  and  “Like 
attracts  like,”  is  by  no  means  to  dispose  of  the 
inquiry  satisfactorily,  for  tho’  both  those  sayings 
contain  a  vast  amount  of  general  truth,  they  do  not 
by  any  means  answer  the  oft-repeated  query  as  to 
why  it  is  that  very  often  a  medium  whose  medium- 
ship  is  unmistakably  genuine  in  the  main  is  addicted 
to  immoral  practices  and  is  often  a  person  whose 
general  character  is  below  rather  than  above  an 
average  standard  of  respectability. 

By  making  this  statement  we  do  not  intend  to 
endorse  the  utterly  false  indictment  sometimes 
brought  against  mediums  as  a  distinctive  class  of 
persons,  notorious  for  flagrant  immoralities,  for  such 
they  certainly  are  not.  But  tho’  many  mediums  are 
persons  of  pure  life  and  noble  aspirations,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  others  are  very  much  the  reverse, 
and  it  often  happens  that  entirely  satisfactory  evi¬ 
dences  of  mediumship  are  furnished  by  the  immoral 
as  well  as  by  the  moral  sensitive. 

To  consider  this  topic  fairly,  it  is  essential  that 
we  admit  at  the  outset  that  mediumship  is  not 
necessarily  a  reward  of  virtue  any  more  than  it  is 
a  penalty  of  vice.  A  medium  is  often  merely  an 
unusually  sensitive  child,  highly  impressionable, 
who  sees,  hears  and  feels  a  great  deal  more  than 
does  the  average  child;  therefore  this  particular 
child  seems  to  belong  in  a  class  alone  and  is  often 
grievously  maltreated  by  ignorant  adults  and  by 
other  children  who  can  only  see  queerness  or  oddity 

77 


78 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


in  their  singular  associate.  As  such  child  grows  up, 
this  sensitiveness  sometimes  diminishes,  but  some¬ 
times  increases,  and  when  it  increases,  if  opportunity 
favors,  its  possessor  becomes  known  as  a  medium 
and  often  enters  upon  a  professional  mediumship 
career.  There  is  no  more  need  for  morality  to 
induce  this  simply  natural  mediumship  than  to  con¬ 
stitute  some  one  a  musician  or  a  poet,  and  we  know 
from  history,  and  also  from  contemporary  proof, 
that  musicians  and  poets  are  not  necessarily_either 
highly  moral  or  definitely  immoral  any  more  than 
a  special  degree  of  morality  or  immorality  is  con¬ 
nected  with  the  possession  of  mechanical  skill  or 
oratorical  ability.  JNatural  sensitiveness  and  special 
characteristic  endowments  do  not  pertain  to  the 
Jlomain  of  ethics,  therefore  it  must  follow  that  per¬ 
sons  who  view  everything  from  a  solely  ethical  view¬ 
point  encounter  much  that  bewilders  and  distresses 
them. 

Sentimentalism  is  very  prominent  in  many  quar¬ 
ters,  and  much  of  it  is  so  natural  and  proper  that  it 
must  be  treated  with  respect  rather  than  with  dis¬ 
dain.  It  is  altogether  natural  for  a  son  or  daughter 
to  feel  reverence  for  a  beloved  and  honored  parent 
recently  passed  to  spirit  life,  and  it  must  entail  a 
shock  to  sensitive  feelings  to  be  assured  that  a  rev¬ 
ered  father  or  mother  makes  a  communication  to  a 
child  thru  the  instrumentality  of  a  libertine,  who 
may  be  at  the  time  when  the  communication  is  made 
just  recovering  from  a  debauch,  and  it  does  not  seem 
probable  that  such  a  channel  of  communication 
could  be  sought  out  by  the  parent  in  question  seek¬ 
ing  communion  with  son  or  daughter.  But,  reason¬ 
able  tho  this  inference  unquestionably  is,  there  are 
two  or  more  sides  to  this  great  question  of  medium- 
ship,  not  merely  the  single  thought  of  mutual  congen¬ 
iality  between  spirit  and  medium.  It  is  not  always 
that  a  spirit  has  large  choice  of  mediumistic  chan¬ 
nels  to  select  from,  and  as  the  spirit  accompanies  the 
person  seeking  communication  to  the  house  of  the 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


79 


medium  in  a  majority  of  instances,  and  the  medium, 
if  a  clairvoyant,  often  simply  describes  that  spirit 
to  the  sitter,  and  if  a  clairvoyant  hears  and  con¬ 
veys  a  message,  there  is  far  less  psychic  association 
between  spirit  and  medium  in  such  cases  than  is 
superficially  supposed. 

It  is  not  the  medium,  but  the  sitter  in  probably  99 
instances  out  of  an  average  1 00  who  attracts  the 
spirit,  and  the  claim  is  not  frequently  made  that 
someone’s  particularly  near  and  dear  friends  com¬ 
municate  thru  a  public  medium,  or  even  thru  a  pri- 
ate  sensitive,  except  when  the  one  to  whom  the  mes¬ 
sage  is  to  be  delivered  is  present.  It  is  the  sitter 
rather  than  the  medium  who  generally  attracts  the 
spirits,  consequently  the  moral  condition  of  the  sit¬ 
ter  Is  a  more  influential  factor  by  far  than  that  of 
the  medium,  who  is  frequently  only  in  a  position 
analogous  to  that  of  a  telegraphic  operator  or  any 
messenger  who  conveys  tidings  from  one  individual 
to  another.  A  person  desiring  to  send  a  telegram 
or  cablegram,  or  to  have  a  letter  conveyed  from  one 
house  to  another,  is  not  necessarily  personally  at¬ 
tracted  to  any  available  medium  of  communication, 
but  gladly  avails  himself  of  any  means  at  disposal  for 
accomplishing  the  end  desired;  and  any  fee  that 
may  be  paid  to  a  transmitter  has  nothing  to  do  with 
any  sentiment  felt  for  the  individual  who  performs 
the  service,  except  in  occasional  instances.  We  do 
not  doubt  that  a  great  deal  of  affection  and  con¬ 
geniality  often  exists  between  spirits  and  the  medi¬ 
um  thru  whom  they  work,  but  such  affection  usually 
is  between  mediums  and  their  particular  guides  and 
constantly  attendant  spirits,  not  between  them  and 
any  influence  which  may  seek  for  the  moment  to 
make  use  of  their  instrumentality  for  conveying  a 
message  to  a  friend  not  mutual. 

Broadly  speaking,  moral  character  has  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  the  grades  of  unseen  associates  one 
usually  keeps  in  touch  with,  therefore  if  we  are  dis¬ 
cussing  the  question  of  the  general  relation  between 


80 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


mediumship  and  morality,  we  can  never  regard  it  as 
unimportant  to  insist  upon  the  highest  possible  moral 
standards,  but  we  must  avoid  confounding  one 
aspect  of  a  general  subject  with  another,  for  such 
confounding  greatly  embarrasses  investigation  and 
leads  to  many  seriously  bewildering  misconceptions. 
When  we  leave  the  lower  level  of  seemingly  auto¬ 
matic  mediumship  and  rise  to  contemplate  spiritual 
associations  voluntarily  induced,  the  moral  ques¬ 
tion  looms  large  on  our  horizon  and  the  mottoes 
quoted  come  into  large  requisition.  Voluntary 
mediumship  is  determined  very  largely  by  one’s 
aspirations,  so  much  so  that  a  person  of  chronically 
benevolent  intent  can  never  be  made  use  of  by  un¬ 
seen  influences  for  mischief-making  purposes,  nor  to 
advocate  any  form  of  treachery,  cruelty  or  dishon¬ 
esty,  because  in  such  cases  the  medium  is  sur¬ 
rounded  by  a  wall  of  protecting  aura  which  shuts 
out  all  influences  of  an  unwelcome  nature,  while  it 
opens  the  way  for  all  such  influx  as  comports  with 
the  established  will  of  its  generator.  Simple  lack 
of  definitely  established  moral  principle  is  far  more 
common  among  sensitives  than  deliberate  persistent 
immorality.  That  is  why  so  many  mediums  are  un¬ 
der  such  different  influences  at  different  times  and 
in  varying  circumstances.  From  the  days  of  the 
Fox  Sisters  (of  1848  celebrity)  to  the  present  hour, 
investigators  of  modern  mediumship  have  con¬ 
fronted  the  serious  problem  of  extreme  sensitiveness 
rendering  its  possessor  liable  to  be  influenced  by  an 
immense  variety  of  conflicting  influences.  Two  of 
the  Fox  Sisters  were  extremely  open  to  varying  con¬ 
trols,  while  one  of  those  remarkable  girls  seemed 
to  possess  throughout  her  earthly  existence  a  much 
stronger  individuality  than  either  of  her  sisters. 

Responsibility  usually  attaches  far  more  to  the 
consultant  than  to  the  medium  when  the  former  is 
a  man  or  woman  of  decided  individuality  and  the 
latter  is  a  yielding  sensitive,  and  when  we  take  a 
circle  into  account,  composed  of  a  number  of  per- 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSHIP 


81 


sons,  several  of  whom  are  often  strongly  marked 
individuals,  the  responsibility  of  what  occurs  is  far 
more  justly  laid  at  the  door  of  the  investigators  than 
at  that  of  the  medium. 

Many  a  time  alcoholic  stimulants  have  been  given 
to  an  exhausted  sensitive  who  should  have  received 
very  different  treatment,  and  because  he  or  she  be¬ 
gan  to  acquire  a  taste  for  liquor  after  having  re¬ 
ceived  it  frequently  at  the  hands  of  “moral  and 
highly  respectable’’  investigators  and  in  their  own 
well-appointed  homes  and  soon  commenced  to  in¬ 
dulge  promiscuously  in  that  downward  direction, 
the  public,  including  the  chief  culprits,  were  loud  in 
denunciation  of  the  “vulgar,  drunken,  immoral 
medium.’’ 

The  greater  responsibility  must  always  be  high¬ 
er  up”  rather  than  “lower  down,”  and  we  maintain 
stoutly  that  a  very  large  share  of  blame  attaches 
to  sitters  which  has  been  mercilessly  hurled  at  medi¬ 
ums.  The  average  investigator  is  neither  a  saint 
nor  a  hero,  and  while  there  are  many  honest,  pure- 
minded  consultors  of  mediums  who  may  suffer  in 
some  degree  from  the  previous  demoralization  of  the 
sensitive  they  consult,  in  a  wider  sense  it  must  be 
realized  that  the  public  gets  in  large  measure  what¬ 
ever  it  demands.  There  is  always  a  supply  to  meet 
an  imperative  and  persistent  demand,  and  no  de¬ 
mand  is  louder  or  more  perpetual  than  for  informa¬ 
tion  thru  mediumistic  channels  pertaining  to  affairs 
which  are  not  conducted  by  any  means  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  the  rules  of  strict  morality. 

“Keep  away  from  mediums,”  is  the  stupid  cry 
of  the  timorous  and  narrow-minded.  “When  you 
consult  a  medium  take  with  you  a  pure  intention  and 
keep  a  level  head,”  is  good  practical  common  sense 
advice.  Whatever  may  be  the  pros  and  cons  of 
some  particular  controverted  case,  it  is  now  freely 
admitted  by  fair-minded  investigators  that  all  phases 
of  mediumship  are  largely  affected  by  the  psychic 
atmosphere  furnished  by  enquirers.  There  are  a 
few  highly  positive  individuals  who  are  mediums, 


82 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSHIP 


willingly  and  gladly,  who  are  not  highly  influenca- 
ble  by  miscellaneous  surroundings,  but  they  are  the 
exceptions  rather  than  the  rule.  William  Thomas 
Stead  was  a  famous  example  of  voluntary  medium- 
ship,  but  he  was  in  a  very  different  position  from 
that  occupied  by  the  medium  who  earns  a  living 
by  receiving  clients  perpetually. 

Tho  the  word,  morals,  is  one  of  seemingly  doubt¬ 
ful  meaning,  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  one  of 
the  older  meanings  of  the  word,  derived  from  the 
Latin  morales,  simply  signifies  manners,  therefore 
much,  that  is  considered  moral  at  one  time  or  in 
one  country,  is  considered  immoral  at  some  other 
time  or  in  some  other  locality. 

We  are  often  rash  and  unduly  harsh  in  insisting 
upon  conventional  standards  of  alleged  morality, 
which  may  not  be  able  to  stand  the  test  of  impartial 
judgment.  A  double  standard  of  conduct,  attempt¬ 
ing  to  justify  all  manner  of  indiscretions  in  one  sex 
which  society  refuses  to  tolerate  in  the  other,  may 
have  no  justification  in  a  higher  court  of  appeal  than 
some  average  earthly  tribunal  where  established 
precedent  and  musty  tradition  rule  all  decisions.  Can 
the  average  man  or  woman  be  entirely  sure  that  the 
accepted  moral  sanction  of  his  particular  nation  or 
party  are  adjudged  accurate  in  the  spiritual  world, 
where  motive  or  intention  must  count  for  far  more 
than  mere  conformity  with  arbitrary  man-made 
standards? 

Another  point  to  be  considered  is  the  great  divers¬ 
ity  of  opinion  that  exists  in  spirit-life,  in  the  spheres 
adjoining  the  earth  at  least,  concerning  matters 
which  are  in  constant  dispute  among  incarnate  leg¬ 
islators.  When  it  is  remembered  that  the  average 
medium  has  no  directly  intimate  or  conscious  con¬ 
tact  with  influences  beyond  the  states  which  inter¬ 
penetrate  our  earthly  atmosphere  we  need  not  won¬ 
der  that  no  special  holiness  is  required  on  the  part 
of  a  sensitive  who  acts  as  an  intermediary  between 
friends  in  and  out  of  the  flesh  who  are  all  living,  as 
you,  on  a  very  ordinary  plane  of  mental  and  moral 
development. 


LESSON  IX  (Continued) 

MEDIUMSHIP  AND  MORAL  CHARACTER 

Business  mediumship  is  very  popular,  for  we  all 
know  how  largely  sought  after  are  these  clairvoyants 
and  others  who  make  a  specialty  of  dealing  with 
purely  mundane  matters.  It  may  not  be  generally 
wise  to  seek  counsel  of  the  spirit-world  in  ordinary 
business  transactions,  but  we  know  how  numerous 
are  the  applicants  for  this  sort  of  information,  and 
it  stands  to  reason  that  judging  by  the  questions 
asked  and  the  information  given,  the  moral  tone  of 
the  questioner  and  of  the  communicating  intelli¬ 
gences  is  neither  higher  nor  lower  than  that  com¬ 
monly  prevailing  in  commercial  circles.  There  is  an 
ordinary  business  morality  neither  very  high  nor  very 
low,  which  can  be  carried  over  into  the  earthbound 
sphere  of  the  spirit-world  in  which  multitudes  of 
the  undeparted  (miscalled  departed)  are  still  liv¬ 
ing,  and  it  is  from  these  unprogressed,  undeveloped 
influences  that  the  great  bulk  of  simply  business  mes¬ 
sages  are  received. 

Viewing  this  question  sanely  and  soberly,  without 
partiality  of  any  sort,  we  reach  the  inevitable  con¬ 
clusion  that  physical  disbodiment  can  never  trans¬ 
form  character.  It  has  been  said  repeatedly  by 
thoughtful  preachers  in  various  churches  that  we 
have  no  warrant  for  supposing  that  the  average  indi¬ 
vidual  a  few  days  or  weeks  after  quitting  the  mortal 
frame  is,  in  character,  any  different  from  what  he 
was  previously,  and  we  all  know  that  usually  persons 
of  fixed  habits  have  an  established  moral  code  cen¬ 
tered  in  their  inner  consciousness  from  which  they 
never  wish  to  deviate.  This  inner  conviction  re¬ 
garding  right  and  wrong  differs  very  largely  with 
different  individuals  who  may  be  living  side  by  side 
and  whose  outward  conduct  appears  all  of  a  piece. 

83 


84 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


In  spirit-life  there  is  no  immediate  change  of  dis¬ 
position,  or  even  of  belief,  but  there  is  usually  a  great 
and  speedy  throwing  off  of  any  mask  or  disguise 
that  may  have  been  worn  on  earth.  It  is  on  that 
account  that  so  many  people  believe  persistently 
that  death  transforms  character  when  it  only  re¬ 
moves  a  veil  which  formerly  concealed  character. 
We  are  by  no  means  discountenancing  legitimate 
business  mediumship,  for  we  have  no  sympathy 
whatever  with  the  sanctimonious  absurdity  that 
leads  people  to  refer  to  all  business  affairs  as  tho 
they  were  necessarily  either  positively  dishonorable, 
or  at  the  very  best  conducted  on  too  low  a  moral 
plane  to  render  it  permissable  for  us  to  ask  the 
assistance  of  our  spirit-friends  in  the  conduct  of 
worldly  affairs.  There  are  indeed  two  sides  to  this 
great  question,  and  while  one  side  seemingly  exalts 
our  idea  of  our  friends  who  have  “crossed  the  bor¬ 
der,”  the  other  side  suggests  so  degrading  a  view  of 
necessary  business  as  to  discourage  young  persons 
embarking  on  a  commercial  career  from  setting  be¬ 
fore  themselves  a  high  or  even  a  decent  moral  stand¬ 
ard. 

Morality  ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  an  exotic, 
a  sort  of  rare  blossom  like  an  orchid  in  the  floral 
kingdom  that  can  only  bloom  in  very  exceptional 
conditions.  Good  morals  should  become  a  prac¬ 
tical  every-day  asset,  and  instead  of  business  being 
immoral  and  demoralizing  it  should  be  so  conducted 
as  to  reflect  credit  upon  all  who  engage  in  it. 

Tho  we  admit,  and  indeed  declare,  that  there  are 
hosts  of  unseen  influences  of  undeveloped,  and  even 
of  perverted,  moral  tone  with  whom  we  can  com¬ 
municate  if  we  so  desire,  and  these  respond  to  all 
desires  to  pervert  mediumship  to  the  fulfillment  of 
some  unrighteous  end,  we  nevertheless  most  positive¬ 
ly  insist  that  when  business  questions  are  asked  in  a 
right  spirit  by  sincere  people  they  can  and  do  enlist 
the  attention  of  unseen  helpers.  It  is  often  senti¬ 
mentally  objected  that  we  should  not  disturb  the  rest 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


85 


of  the  departed,  as  tho  the  simple  fact  of  laying  aside 
a  material  garment  introduced  its  former  wearer  into 
a  state  of  profound  repose  or  entitled  him  to  some 
special  reward.  All  these  vain  misleading  supersti¬ 
tions  need  to  be  dismissed  from  our  minds  before  we 
embark  on  the  ocean  of  psychical  research,  together 
with  all  foolish  suppositions  regarding  the  special 
sanctity  or  awful  depravity  of  the  entities  we  en¬ 
counter  on  the  astral  plane.  It  is  becoming  more  and 
more  fully  demonstrated  that  a  vast  amount  of  spirit- 
communion  is  simply  telepathy  or  mental  telegraphy 
extended  onto  the  post-mortem  plane,  therefore  we 
are  frequently  functioning  here  and  now  psychically 
as  we  shall  continue  to  function  after  we  have  laid 
aside  our  flesh. 

Moral  purposes  certainly  have  much  to  do  with 
regulating  the  class  of  influences  with  which  we 
most  intimately  commune,  but  no  more  so  when  it 
comes  to  what  is  definitely  designated  mediumship 
than  when  we  are  handling  the  topic  of  voluntary 
associations  in  ordinary  mundane  ways.  Between 
association  and  consociation  there  is  a  wide  differ¬ 
ence  which  we  need  to  study  deeply  before  we  can 
solve  the  mediumistic  problem.  We  associate  per¬ 
force  with  many  people  in  every-day  life  with  whom 
we  never  feel  inwardly  acquainted,  while  we  are  spir¬ 
itually  consociated  with  many  whom  we  rarely  if 
ever  meet  in  any  externally  associative  manner.  Tho’ 
these  widely  separated  words,  association  and  con¬ 
sociation  are  seldom  clearly  defined,  except  by  stu¬ 
dents  of  Swedenborg  who  never  confound  them, 
it  is  highly  important  that  we  interpret  them  to  refer 
respectively  to  outward  mingling  brought  about  by 
the  conditions  of  the  social  and  business  world  (as¬ 
sociations)  and  to  those  deep-seated  feelings  we 
instinctively  entertain  for  those  who  are  truly  our 
spiritual  kinsfolk,  even  tho  outward  circumstances 
rarely,  if  ever,  throw  us  physically  together  (con¬ 
sociations).  Swedenborg  suggested  the  entire  phil¬ 
osophy  of  psychic  intercourse  in  the  following 


86 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


famous  sentence  of  only  six  words,  “Thought  gives 
presence;  Love  gives  conjunction.”  Whatever  we 
think  about  is  in  our  mental  presence,  but  only  that 
which  enlists  our  affections  is  in  any  vital  way  united 
with  us.  That  is  why  it  is  that  we  often  find  it  next 
to  impossible  to  get  into  communication  with  certain 
individuals  whom  we  saw  a  great  deal  constantly 
while  they  were  on  earth,  while  we  are  often  made 
aware  of  the  close  and  continued  fellowship  of  some 
whose  names  convey  no  meaning  to  us,  for  we  never 
knew  them  in  any  external  manner.  Mediumistic 
persons  who  are  not  under  the  necessity  of  making 
their  living  by  their  mediumship  have  much  more 
freedom  to  choose  their  unseen  associates  than  have 
those  sensitives  who  are  obliged  to  interview  all 
callers.  We  admit  that  professional  mediumship  is 
legitimate,  but  it  usually  imposes  many  hardships 
on  the  medium,  particularly  if  he  or  she  is  extremely 
sensitive.  When  one’s  work  only  calls  for  public 
ministrations  the  case  is  simpler,  because  descriptions 
can  be  given  and  communications  read  from  the 
atmosphere  by  a  keen  sensitive  without  involving 
anything  like  “  control,”  which  is  usually  dangerous 
in  miscellaneous  circumstances.  It  is  not  possible 
for  a  thoroughly  well  fortified  sensitive  to  be  in¬ 
vaded  by  immoral  influences,  because  there  are  no 
points  of  contact,  but  there  is  usually  some  weak 
place  in  one’s  moral  armor  and  it  is  thru  that  aper¬ 
ture  that  undesirable  influx  enters. 

The  desire  to  please  a  client  is  often  dangerous, 
because  a  mere  desire  to  please  is  not  entirely  con¬ 
scientious.  Persons  often  derive  great  momentary 
pleasure  from  insincere  flattery  and  from  hearing 
what  they  like  to  hear  whether  it  is  true  or  false. 
Owing  to  this  lack  of  sufficiently  high  moral  prin¬ 
ciple  a  great  many  misleading  statements  are  made, 
emanating  from  several  sources  contemporaneous¬ 
ly.  The  desire  of  the  sitter  often  assumes  form  on 
the  astral  atmosphere  and  indeed  becomes  an  en¬ 
souled  mentoid  (thought-form)  which  a  clairvoy- 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSHIP 


87 


ant  can  plainly  see  and  accurately  describe.  These 
thought-forms  are  often  mistaken  for  visions  of  a 
more  spiritual  character  and  many  persons  gladly 
accept  a  description  of  these  as  veritable  messages 
from  spirit-friends.  Then  we  often  receive  com¬ 
munications  imperfectly,  and  there  is  a  widespread 
tendency  among  imperfectly  developed  sensitives  to 
guess  on  the  basis  of  the  little  that  is  actually  re¬ 
vealed.  We  must  not  overlook  the  patent  fact  that 
mediumistic  persons  are  as  a  rule  only  ordinarily 
human,  and  we  cannot  rightfully  expect  from  them 
a  grade  of  moral  excellence  much  higher  than  we 
are  ready  to  supply.  For  too  little  thought  and 
attention  are  given  to  the  subtler  aspects  of  the 
moral  question,  which  included  all  that  relates  to 
interior  affection  and  aspiration. 

Conventional  morality  is  usually  so  utterly  exter¬ 
nal  a  consideration  that  it  relates  almost  exclusively 
to  words  and  acts,  sometimes  sincere  and  some¬ 
times  hypocritical,  but  outwardly  the  same  whether 
inwardly  sincere  or  insincere.  In  the  psychic  realm 
words  are  often  unheard  and  actions  unperceived 
but  purposes  and  intentions  are  clearly  visible,  and 
these  are  considered  the  morals  of  the  spiritual 
estate.  If  love  is  the  universally  attractive  force, 
and  congeniality  of  desire  and  sentiment  form  the 
abiding  bases  of  spiritual  inter-relatedness,  how  can 
we  suppose  that  mere  outward  conformity  to  any 
set  of  social  or  other  rules  can  be  regarded  in  spirit- 
life  as  constituting  morality? 

Wherever  rules  are  observed  from  conscientious 
motives,  such  obedience  possesses  moral  character 
and  evinces  some  real  spiritual  development;  and 
on  the  other  hand  equally  where  certain  social  con¬ 
ventions  are  ignored  because  the  ignorers  believe 
them  to  be  detrimental  to  human  welfare,  a  higher 
moral  standard  is  inwardly  attained  than  where 
hypocrisy  is  practised.  There  can  be  no  virtue  in 
double-dealing  or  in  secretly  entertaining  ideas  and 
affections  which  we  dare  not  outwardly  express,  for 


88 


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fear  of  offending  ‘'Mrs.  Grundy.’’  If  we  admit  a 
spiritual  basis  of  morality,  we  must  agree  that  much 
that  passes  for  moral  conduct  in  earthly  society  can¬ 
not  possibly  pass  muster  in  any  spiritual  realm.  Tho 
it  is  never  safe  or  honorable  to  glorify  or  to  advo¬ 
cate  transgression  of  moral  codes  established  and 
maintained  with  a  general  view  to  the  safeguarding 
of  society,  when  we  are  dealing  with  psychic  prob¬ 
lems  we  are  compelled  to  peer  far  below  the  level 
of  surface  morals  and  search  for  the  instincts  under¬ 
lying  words  and  actions.  None  of  us  are  perfectly 
free  from  faults,  therefore  charity  rather  than  cen¬ 
sure  should  be  our  aim  when  endeavoring  to  esti¬ 
mate  the  moral  worth  of  others.  Kindly  thoughts, 
pure  desires,  benevolent  intentions  are  certain  links 
to  bind  us  closely  in  indissoluble  union  with  those 
celestial  companies  in  whose  society  and  under 
whose  guidance  mediumship  must  ever  prove  a 
blessing,  not  a  bane. 


LESSON  X. 

Types  and  Varieties  in  Mediumship — What 
Determines  this  Variety 

The  question  is  frequently  asked  by  students  of 
the  problem  of  variety  in  mediumship:  What  is  it 
that  determines  and  regulates  this  variety? 

To  answer  this  enquiry  in  anything  like  a  satis¬ 
factory  manner,  one  must  take  into  account  in  the 
first  place  the  simple  fact  of  Temperament,  and 
though  a  study  of  differing  temperaments  may  never 
suffice  to  completely  explain  all  we  have  to  consider, 
it  will  assuredly  go  a  long  way  in  the  desired  direc¬ 
tion. 

Mediumship  has  been  for  many  years  roughly 
divided  into  certain  easily  definable  categories,  of 
which  the  two  largest  are  Mental  and  Physical.  By 
mental  mediumship  is  generally  meant  all  those 
phases,  such  as  clairvoyance,  inspirational  oratory, 
and  all  that  does  not  involve  the  movement  of 
material  articles  without  perceptible  physical  con¬ 
tact,  or  the  employment  of  definitely  material  agents 
such  as  trumpets,  for  example,  in  the  production 
of  phenomena.  Between  these  two  easily  definable 
types  of  mediumship  there  are  many  grades  of  semi¬ 
mental  and  semi-physical,  such  as  automatic  writ¬ 
ing  and  much  else  that  gives  evidence  of  a  joint 
employment  of  mental  faculties  and  physical 
faculties. 

It  was  long  considered  probable,  if  not  certain, 
that  a  physical  medium  possessed  an  organism  that 
lent  itself  readily  to  quick  depletion  and  equally 
rapid  recuperation,  and  many  of  the  best  verified 
experiments  of  leading  scientists  who  have  investi¬ 
gated  physical  manifestations  have  gone  far  to  jus¬ 
tify  this  assertion.  Famous  physical  mediums  of  a 
departed  generation,  such  as  Daniel  Douglas  Home, 
Henry  Slade,  and  others  who  gained  world-wide 

89 


90 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


celebrity  and  notoriety,  were  persons  of  powerful 
physique  and  of  unusual  mental  temperament.  They 
were,  in  many  respects,  very  curious  individuals, 
standing  in  an  eccentric  class  by  themselves,  differ¬ 
ing  in  some  respects  so  widely  from  the  general  run 
of  humanity  as  to  appear  often  uncanny,  therefore 
they  called  forth  both  admiration  and  hostility,  they 
were  loudly  extolled  and  fiercely  condemned,  pro¬ 
nounced  great  benefactors  of  the  race  and  also 
called  frauds,  impostors  and  everything  else  des¬ 
picable  and  criminal.  Now,  it  seems  strange  that 
such  diametrically  opposite  views  could  have  been 
taken  by  different  persons  of  high  intelligence  after 
they  had  all  interviewed  and  examined  the  claims  of 
these  marvelous  physical  mediums;  but  though 
much  allowance  must  be  made  for  prejudice  and 
misrepresentation,  amounting  often  to  persecution, 
from  which  these  peculiar  persons  often  suffered 
bitterly,  it  must  also  be  allowed  that  their  upholders 
were  not  always  entirely  in  the  right  nor  were  their 
denouncers  always  completely  in  the  wrong. 

We  need  not  wonder  that  eccentricity  of  tempera¬ 
ment  and  disposition  characterizes  a  person  thru 
whose  agency  the  most  uncommon  phenomena  occur; 
it  would  indeed  be  much  stranger  were  it  otherwise, 
for  we  might  reasonably  ask:  How  could  a  person  be 
remarkably  endowed  with  some  rare  ability,  out¬ 
wardly  manifested  thru  a  physical  organism  without 
possessing  an  organism  in  many  ways  differing  from 
the  accepted  ordinary  varieties? 

Physical  mediums  have  always  been  sensational  as 
well  as  sensitive  persons,  and  their  conduct  has 
often  been  exceedingly  erratic,  so  much  so  as  to 
cause  all  but  purely  scientific  investigators  to  look 
with  extreme  disapproval  upon  much  of  their  be¬ 
haviour. 

To  the  coldly  dispassionate  scientific  observer 
every  peculiarity  is  interesting  as  it  affords  a  fresh 
opportunity  for  scientific  research,  but  the  strictly 
scientific  cast  of  mind  is  rare,  though  extremely  val- 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


91 


uable,  and  all  the  more  valuable,  relatively  speak¬ 
ing,  on  account  of  its  rarity. 

Many  excellent  treatises  are  extant  setting  forth 
the  results  of  unimpassioned  scientific  research  car¬ 
ried  forward  by  Sir  William  Crookes,  Professor 
Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  and  other  highly  distin¬ 
guished  scientists,  during  the  70  s  of  the  19th  cen¬ 
tury,  and  to  those  earlier  works  new  testimonies  of 
great  value  are  being  added  by  Sir  Oliver  Lodge 
and  other  eminent  contemporary  investigators. 

In  bygone  days  mediumship  was  much  more  to 
the  front  than  it  is  at  present,  and  the  complaint 
has  often  been  made  that  Home,  Slade,  Eglinton, 
and  other  marvelous  physical  mediums  of  the  last 
century  have  had  no  adequate  successors.  There 
was  a  time  when  Materialization  was  so  much  in 
evidence  and  so  widely  discussed  that  a  great  many 
fraudulent  persons  simulated  mediumship  and  many 
mediums  were  convicted  of  intermingling  fraud 
with  genuine  phenomena.  As  these  disagreeable 
occurrences  are  necessarily  embarrassing  and  call 
forth  popular  indignation,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that  physical  mediumship  passed  under  a  heavy 
cloud  and  has  been  much  discountenanced  in  many 
quarters,  among  professed  Spiritualists  as  well  as 
among  outsiders;  indeed  Spiritualists  have'  often 
been  fiercer  and  more  relentless  in  their  attacks  upon 
phenomena  considered  fraudulent  than  have  any 
others  except  the  most  bitter  opponents  of  med¬ 
iumship  in  general  among  the  public  at  large.  It 
seems  impossible  to  entirely  eliminate  fraud  from 
mediumship  so  long  as  it  prevails  in  the  world  at 
large,  for  mediums  are  among  the  most  sensitive 
and  impressionable  of  human  beings,  and  when  not 
endowed  with  an  exceptionally  high  sense  of  honor 
they  are  more  likely  to  succumb  to  surrounding  influ¬ 
ences,  good,  bad  and  indifferent,  than  are  persons 
less  exceptional.  Physical  mediumship  has  no  nec¬ 
essary  connection  with  good  moral  character  or  with 
the  lack  of  it,  for  it  results  chiefly  from  a  loosely 
constructed  physical  organism,  from  which  a  large 


92 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


amount  of  vital  pabulum  can  be  readily  withdrawn 
and  quickly  replaced  with  much  less  difficulty  than 
is  ordinarily  the  case.  The  rigid  experiments  con¬ 
ducted  by  scientific  examiners  of  the  most  startling 
physical  phenomena  have  proved  conclusively  that 
the  weight  of  a  medium  s  body  has  been  greatly 
reduced  during  the  progress  of  a  seance  and  restored 
to  its  usual  amount  very  quickly  after  the  phenom¬ 
ena  had  ceased.  Sitters  have  also  been  heavily 
drawn  upon  in  many  instances  to  supply  additional 
material  for  the  production  of  phenomena;  all  going 
to  prove  that  the  unseen  operating  intelligences 
were  making  use  of  physical  material  gathered  pri¬ 
marily  from  the  medium  and  in  lesser  degree  from 
others  who  were  assisting  at  the  seance.  A  physical 
medium  who  can  supply  this  pabulum  is  a  very  inter¬ 
esting  person  from  the  scientific  standpoint,  and  the 
fact  of  his  being  a  curious  individual  in  many  ways 
does  not  in  the  least  detract  from  his  importance, 
seeing  that  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  set  him  up  on  a 
moral  pedestal  and  pronounce  him  a  singularly  holy 
person,  when  no  such  claim  is  made  for  him  or  by 
him. 

There  is  a  vast  amount  of  sentimental  cant  float¬ 
ing  about  concerning  the  purity  of  life  necessary  to 
constitute  one  a  good  medium.  With  all  due  defer¬ 
ence  to  moral  character,  which  is  of  illimitable  value 
from  a  truly  spiritual  standpoint,  we  must  not  drop 
into  fanaticism  and  confound  issues  that  widely  dif¬ 
fer.  A  good  tailor  is  not  necessarily  a  moral  man, 
tho  it  is  highly  desirable  that  all  tradesmen  should 
be  upright  in  all  their  dealings.  The  tailor’s  art  is 
something  apart  from  morality;  it  Is  a  product  of- 
mechanical  skill.  Some  children  would  easily  make 
good  tailors,  while  others  would  not,  though  all  may 
be  equal  in  respect  of  moral  character.  Now,  when 
a  physical  phenomenon  is  produced,  the  intelligence 
behind  the  scenes  has  to  employ  material  to  weave 
into  a  temporary  garment,  because  no  spiritual  entity 
without  a  physical  body  can  exhibit  its  powers  in  a 
physical  manner  without  recourse  to  appropriate 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


93 


material,  and  this  must  be  supplied  on  the  physical 
plane. 

Now,  just  as  there  are  scientific  minds  on  earth 
specially  devoted  to  proving  facts  scientifically,  and 
these  demonstrators  are  only  desirous  of  obtaining 
the  means  for  prosecuting  their  researches  to  a  suc¬ 
cessful  issue,  so  on  the  unseen  planes  there  are  many 
intelligences  bent  on  demonstrating  phenomena 
which  shall  conclusively  prove  the  facts  they  are 
determining  to  make  manifest.  A  physical  medium 
may  be  (but  need  not  be)  coarse  and  illiterate  and 
addicted  to  many  undesirable  habits  and  still  prove 
useful  for  the  purposes  for  which  his  temperament 
peculiarly  adapts  him.  Such  a  person  only  needs  to 
be  understood  to  be  appraised  at  his  true  value, 
which  from  the  scientific  viewpoint  is  very  great. 

In  such  a  case  it  usually  happens  that  the  inves¬ 
tigators  have  much  more  to  do  with  the  morale  of 
the  situation  than  has  the  medium,  for  they  fre¬ 
quently  serve  as  magnets  to  attract  the  manifesting 
entities,  and  it  is  according  to  their  aspirations  that 
they  draw  responses  out  of  the  unseen  universe. 
Suspicion  is  the  relentless  foe  of  dispassionate  in¬ 
vestigation  ;  a  suspicious  person  is  never  a  clear-eyed, 
but  is  rather  a  blear-eyed  investigator.  Perfect  men¬ 
tal  serenity,  coupled  with  acute  observation  faculty, 
trained  thru  practised  concentration  solely  upon  one 
object  at  a  time,  contributes  most  of  all  to  qualifica¬ 
tion  for  adequate  investigation  of  phenomena. 
Nothing  is  more  important  than  that  a  highly  sen¬ 
sitive  medium  should  be  kept  in  an  unruffled  condi¬ 
tion,  for  disturbances  in  the  medium’s  atmosphere 
or  auric  zone  are  extremely  detrimental  to  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  convincing  phenomena. 

For  physical  manifestations,  passivity  on  the  part 
of  medium  and  sitters  is  alike  necessity,  but  this  pas¬ 
sivity  can  be  as  voluntary  as  any  phase  of  activity, 
for  we  can  all  learn  to  make  ourselves  active  and 
passive  in  self-regulated  alteration  of  mental  atti¬ 
tudes. 

The  best  time  for  sitting  for  physical  manifesta- 


94 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


tions  is  usually  after  sunset,  and  when  no  business 
or  other  engagements  press,  and  the  best  place  is 
wherever  the  atmospheric  conditions  are  reposeful 
and  the  general  air  is  as  free  from  contamination  as 
possible.  Good  ventilation  is  essential  to  the  health 
of  all  concerned.  Much  of  the  exhaustion  following 
a  seance  is  often  due  to  a  stifling  atmosphere  brought 
about  by  stupid  non-observance  of  rudimentary  san¬ 
itary  conditions,  and  then  falsely  attributed  to  the 
effects  of  mediumship.  If  people  would  only  at¬ 
tend  more  rationally  to  proper  ventilation,  hygienic 
dress  and  simple  food,  they  would  be  able  to  ex¬ 
ercise  mediumship  and  attend  seances  with  far  less 
inconvenience  and  suffering  than  they  now  often 
experience. 

A  physical  medium,  upon  whose  constitution 
heavy  draughts  are  often  made,  can  readily  recuper¬ 
ate  without  injury  to  mind  or  body  provided  med¬ 
iumship  is  exercised  only  in  wholesome  surround¬ 
ings.  Such  a  person  requires  much  free  exercise  in 
the  open  air  and  usually  thrives  far  better  in  the  coun¬ 
try  than  in  a  city.  A  country  estate  is  far  healthier 
than  a  city  flat  for  everyone,  and  if  a  society  en¬ 
gaged  m  scientific  psychical  research  takes  a  medium 
under  its  wing,  it  would  be  well  for  such  a  body  to 
provide  a  retreat  away  from  city  strife  where  the 
medium  could  enjoy  mental  and  physical  relaxation, 
whether  the  seances  were  held  there  or  elsewhere.  It 
greatly  contributes  to  facile  production  of  phenom¬ 
ena  to  set  apart  certain  rooms  exclusively  for  psychi¬ 
cal  work,  as  an  atmosphere  becomes  gradually 
charged  with  elements  which  can  be  readily  utilized 
in  the  production  of  phenomena.  Garments  also 
can  profitably  be  kept  sacred  for  use  only  during  the 
progress  of  seances. 

Turning  now  to  Mental  Mediumship  we  are  con¬ 
fronted  with  a  type  of  temperament  altogether  dif¬ 
ferent  from  the  physical.  As  the  physical  medium 
is  principally  called  upon  to  supply  material  for  ex¬ 
ternal  phenomena,  the  mental  medium  is  called  up¬ 
on  to  retire  into  an  interior  condition  in  which  he  is 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSHIP 


95 


removed  to  an  unusual  distance  from  the  physical 
plane.  Very  often  a  mental  medium  of  rare  excel¬ 
lence  is  a  person  of  spare  frame  and  of  almost  ascetic 
tendencies,  generating  less  than  the  ordinary  amount 
of  physical  vitality,  but  enjoying  good  health  tho  by 
no  means  adapted  to  hard  manual  labor.  Many  a 
physical  medium  makes  an  excellent  tiller  of  the  soil, 
and  delights  in  physical  occupation  of  various  kinds, 
bur  cares  little  for  art  and  literature.  A  good 
mental  medium  is  apt  to  be  studious  and  artistic,  far 
TSetter  adapted  to  literary  employment  than  to  man¬ 
ual  efforts.  Such  a  person  is  often  highly  sensitive 
to  mental  states  and  is  much  more  readily  affected 
by  psychical  than  by  physical  conditions.  We  may 
have  to  pay  much  attention  to  externals  with  per¬ 
sons  of  this  type  in  so  far  as  they  are  expressive  of 
internal  conditions,  but  no  further.  It  is  the  mental 
attitude  of  the  persons  with  whom  this  type  of  med¬ 
ium  is  brought  in  contact  that  signifies  far  more  than 
observance  of  any  outward  rules.  Here  again  we 
often  encounter  eccentricity,  but  it  is  on  the  mental 
plane  and  very  apt  to  manifest  in  the  expression  of 
unusual  views  of  life  such  as  would  furnish  material 
for  an  original  play  or  novel. 

Inspirational  speakers,  to  whose  utterances  an  im¬ 
mense  amount  of  attention  was  given  at  the  very 
time  physical  phenomena  was  being  closely  investi¬ 
gated  in  many  lands  contemporaneously,  were  usu¬ 
ally  somewhat  uneven  in  their  utterances,  their  fin¬ 
est  orations  being  given  when  audiences  furnished 
them  with  some  exceptional  stimulus.  Sometimes 
this  stimulus  is  of  the  most  friendly  and  sympathetic 
order,  but  on  other  occasions  it  is  a  wave  of  chal¬ 
lenging  antagonism  that  will  call  forth  superfine  de¬ 
liverances.  During  recent  years  Spiritualism  has  be¬ 
come  too  general  and  popular,  and  its  accustomed 
methods  of  propaganda  too  commonplace  to  evoke 
very  startling  results,  for  the  best  mediumistic  dem¬ 
onstrations  require  a  certain  definite  stimulation 
which  is  only  occasionally  afforded. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  wont  to  say  that  a  great 


96 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


oration  required  a  great  occasion,  a  great  inspiration, 
and  a  great  subject  in  addition  to  a  great  orator, 
therefore  unless  the  four  essentials  were  present  it 
was  not  forthcoming.  No  doubt  Beecher  was  funda¬ 
mentally  right,  but  judging  from  results  among  in¬ 
spired  speakers  we  must  acknowledge  that  some,  if 
not  all  of  these  four  essentials,  are  often  furnished  on 
the  unseen  rather  than  on  the  physical  side  working 
thru  the  medial  instrumentality  of  a  sensitive  who  in 
his  or  her  ordinary  condition  is  no  orator  whatever, 
tho  no  doubt  in  possession  of  latent  oratorical  abil¬ 
ity;  for  it  appears,  as  a  result  of  close  and  continuous 
investigation,  that  dormant  faculties  are  worked  up¬ 
on  by  inspiring  intelligences,  who  cannot  create  fac¬ 
ulties  in  a  mediumistic  person,  but  can  and  do  arouse 
and  employ  to  the  fullest  possible  extent  such  fac¬ 
ulties  as  they  find  potenial. 

A  great  audience  may  be  composed  of  only  three 
or  four  persons,  because  greatness  in  the  mental 
sense  does  not  imply  a  vast  concourse  of  dull  intel¬ 
lects  which  may  easily  be  massed  together  at  a  cir¬ 
cus.  A  single  bright  mind,  alert  and  sympathetic  in 
an  audience  of  any  dimensions,  may  suffice  to  afford 
the  necessary  conditions  for  the  delivery  of  a  master¬ 
ly  inspired  oration  on  a  public  platform,  precisely 
as  the  same  helpful  man  or  woman  of  keen  intellect 
and  kindly  disposition  may  call  out  the  most  amaz¬ 
ing  results  during  a  private  interview  with  a  deli¬ 
cately  organized  sensitive. 

Professing  Spiritualists  are  not  always  the  people 
who  furnish  the  best  conditions  for  the  exercise  of 
any  phase  of  mediumship,  for  they  are  often  coldly 
unsympathetic  and  harshly  critical,  while  many  in¬ 
experienced  investigators  are  in  so  receptive  a  men- 
lal  state  that  they  aid  a  medium  immensely.  Par¬ 
ticular  phases  of  mediumsfnp  usually  follow  the  bent 
of  the  medium’s  natural  disposition  pretty  closely, 
thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  a  lover  of  music  will  be 
inspired  to  sing  or  play;  a  lover  of  literature  will  be 
inspired  to  write;  a  lover  of  painting  or  sculpture 
will  be  inspired  to  produce  a  painting  or  a  bust;  a 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


97 


child  or  adult  of  inventive  turn  of  mind  will  be  in¬ 
spired  to  produce  some  invention.  We  must  re¬ 
member  that  the  intelligences  who  work  with  and 
thru  mediums  are  largely  limited  as  to  their  expres¬ 
sion  by  the  instruments  they  have  at  their  disposal. 

No  musician,  however  gifted,  can  evolve  the 
tones  peculiar  to  a  cornet  by  drawing  a  bow  across 
the  strings  of  a  violin,  nor  can  the  finest  pianist  draw 
from  a  pipe  organ  the  same  kind  of  tone  resulting 
from  passing  his  fingers  over  the  keyboard  of  a  pi¬ 
ano  ;  neither  is  it  possible  for  any  organist  to  trans¬ 
cend  the  capacity  of  the  instrument  upon  which  he 
plays.  Organs  have  just  so  many  stops,  pedals  and 
keyboards  and  no  more;  violins  have  so  many 
string;  pianos  just  so  many  octaves.  So  is  it  with 
mediumistic  capacities  at  any  given  time  with  refer¬ 
ence  to  any  special  medium.  But  human  faculties 
can  be  increased  by  exercise,  therefore  the  limit  of 
to-day  is  not  necessarily  that  of  to-morrow. 

The  cultivation  of  mediumship  does  not  imply 
change  of  type  or  alteration  of  characteristic  tem¬ 
perament,  but  continued  unfolding  more  and  more 
‘of  latent  capacity.  We  can  never  countenance, 
much  less  advocate  any  objectionable  artificial  meth¬ 
ods  for  arousing  sensitiveness,  such  as  the  employ¬ 
ment  of  stimulants  or  narcotics,  which  are  invariably 
injurious.  Healthy  modes  of  living,  free  from  all 
manner  of  excess,  must  ever  be  recommended  to 
those  who  wish  to  exercise  mediumship  healthfully 
and  reliably.  Blind  yielding  to  unknown  influences 
is  always  fraught  with  risk,  but  intuition  must  be  our 
chief  guide  in  all  directions. 

Unseen  influences  may  call  themselves  by  any 
names  they  choose  to  assume,  and  if  we  blindly  ac¬ 
cept  what  we  are  told  regardless  of  sensations  ac¬ 
companying  and  results  following,  we  may  be 
swindled  in  many  directions  by  arrogant  impostors 
either  seen  or  unseen.  There  is  a  sphere  surrounding 
every  individual  that  cannot  be  altered  except  from 
within,  therefore  a  deceiver  cannot  emanate  the 
same  psychic  influence  as  one  whose  intentions  are 


98 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


honest.  The  emanation  from  one  who  delights  in 
cruelty  cannot  be  the  same  as  that  proceeding  from 
one  who  delights  in  kindness,  and  so  it  goes  illimit- 
ably. 

Sensitive  children,  in  common  with  all  highly 
sagacious  animals,  know  whom  to  trust  and  whom 
not  to  trust,  and  as  the  childlike  disposition  is  es¬ 
sentially  mediumistic  in  the  best  meaning  of  the 
word,  it  is  well  for  most  adults  who  are  practising 
as  mediums  to  let  their  intuitions  guide  them  far 
more  than  they  usually  have  done  or  are  now  do¬ 
ing. 

If  a  person  enters  the  atmosphere  of  a  sensitive, 
demanding  an  interview  and  the  sensitive  feels  re¬ 
pelled,  it  would  be  wise  not  to  give  a  sitting.  No 
one  need  be  rude  or  condemnatory  in  the  attitude 
taken,  but  discretion  should  be  heeded.  Very  often 
certain  persons  coming  closely  together  clash  psy¬ 
chically  and  the  interblending  of  their  auric  emana¬ 
tions  produces  a  discord.  This  is  no  proof  that  there 
is  anything  wrong  or  bad  in  either  party,  it  only  goes 
to  show  lack  of  mutual  adaptability,  and  often  the 
direct  contradition  of  adaptation.  After  all  the  ad¬ 
vice  that  can  be  proclaimed  and  published  along 
general  lines  has  been  given  and  heeded,  there  will 
ever  remain  the  need  for  individual  discretion  in  the 
exercise  of  mediumship,  and  as  sensitive  persons 
outgrow  more  and  more  the  old  mistaken  idea  that 
they  must  be  in  a  chronic  state  of  prostrate  passivity 
in  order  to  be  successful  mediums,  the  rightful  as¬ 
sertion  of  individuality  will  increasingly  reveal  the 
welcome  fact  that  the  highest  and  most  convincing 
types  of  mediumship  traverse  the  road  of  tempera¬ 
mental  inclination,  so  that  the  most  useful  medium- 
ship  is  of  supplemental,  not  of  substitutionary  char¬ 
acter.  Inspiration  of  the  noblest  sort  augments,  it 
never  subverts  any  rightful  natural  tendencies,  and 
it  ever  increases  natural  talent  whenever  it  is  health¬ 
fully  encouraged. 


LESSON  XI 

Mediumship  and  Adepthood 

Having  discussed  various  phases  of  mediumship 
and  made  some  endeavor  to  explain,  at  least  in 
outline,  whence  mediumistic  faculties  proceed  and 
how  they  may  be  reasonably  cultivated  and  profit¬ 
ably  exercised,  we  now  desire  to  direct  attention  to 
Adepthood  which  occupies  a  position  in  general 
esteem  (and  rightly  so),  far  higher  than  any  usually 
assigned  to  simple  mediumship.  The  reason  for  as¬ 
signing  a  position  of  great  importance  to  Adepthood 
and  regarding  Mediumship  as  occupying  a  more 
primitive  ground,  is  because  many  a  medium  is  such 
from  organization  only,  and  therefore  practically 
from  necessity,  while  no  one  can  possibly  become  an 
adept  without  a  large  amount  of  deliberate  self-de¬ 
velopment, 

When  the  famous  electrician,  Thomas  Edison, 
was  questioned  as  to  how  far  he  thought  that  his 
phenomenally  successful  work  was  legitimately  at¬ 
tributable  to  inspiration,  he  replied  more  seriously 
than  facetiously,  that  he  considered  that  Perspira¬ 
tion  played  a  larger  part  than  Inspiration  in  his 
accomplishments.  On  first  hearing  so  strange  an  ut¬ 
terance  one  might  imagine  that  the  famous  inventor 
was  casting  a  slur  upon  inspiration,  but  such  was 
by  no  means  necessarily  the  case,  for  the  original 
meaning  and  true  etymological  significance  of  per¬ 
spiration  is  breathing  thru,  while  inspiration  ob¬ 
viously  signifies  breathing  in.  Spiro,  I  breathe;  and 
spirare,  to  breathe,  are  the  Latin  founts  whence  our 
English  words,  inspiration,  perspiration,  aspiration, 
respiration  and  expiration  are  derived,  therefore  as 
the  prefix  per  stands  for  thru,  perspire  is  to  breathe 
thru,  not  as  commonly  supposed  simply  to  sweat. 
In  all  ordinary  uses  of  the  word  in  these  days  we 

99 


100 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


are  led  to  suppose  that  sweating  and  perspiring 
means  about  the  same,  when  in  reality  these  two 
processes  are  widely  dissimilar.  We  all  know  how 
persons  whose  breathing  is  seriously  impeded,  and 
who  are  in  a  generally  weak  and  run  down  condi¬ 
tion,  often  suffer  from  night  sweats  and  the  water 
flows  out  of  their  pores  excessively  and  unpleasantly 
whenever  they  take  a  little  more  than  their  common 
small  degree  of  exercise.  In  sound  health  the  hu¬ 
man  body  is  comfortably  moist  but  not  uncomfort¬ 
ably  wet,  but  when  abnormal  or  pathological  condi¬ 
tions  obtain,  normal  breathing  is  interfered  with  and 
thru  clogging  of  the  pores  disagreeable  sweating  is 
substituted  for  agreeable  breathing.  All  Yoga  prac¬ 
tices  deal  primarily  with  regulated  modes  of  breath¬ 
ing,  because  there  is  no  self-command  where  there 
is  no  regulated  breath,  and  where  there  is  lack  of 
self-control  or  self-directed  energy  there  can  be  no 
attainment  of  adepthood.  We  often  call  a  man  or 
woman  an  adept  who  has  achieved  something  un¬ 
usual  along  some  particular  line  of  mental  industry 
by  dint  of  patient,  persistent  perseverance,  which  is 
something  widely  different  from  easy  dependence 
upon  natural  gifts  and  endowments  alone,  which, 
tho’  forming  in  most  instances  a  necessary  back¬ 
ground  and  starting  point  for  deliberate  endeavor, 
can  never  be  rightly  looked  upon  as  substitutes  for 
resolute  determination  to  make  something  of  one¬ 
self. 

We  hear  so  much  of  “selfmade”  men  and  women, 
pro  and  con,  that  we  need  to  carefully  weigh  argu¬ 
ments  and  assertions  on  both  sides  of  an  age-long 
controversy.  On  the  one  hand  we  are  confronted 
with  assertions  to  the  effect  that  Heredity  and  En¬ 
vironment  are  responsible  for  nearly  everything,  on 
the  other  hand  we  are  told  that  all  truly  great  in¬ 
dividuals  have  made  themselves  illustrious  J^y  their 
own  determined  endeavors.  It  is  safe  to  aver  that 
there  is  some  measure  of  truth  in  each  of  these  dia¬ 
metrically  opposite  assertions,  experience  manifest- 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


101 


ly  teaching  that  the  qualities  inherent  in  us  and  the 
opportunities  thrown  in  our  way  have  much  to  do 
oftentimes  with  our  success  when  we  succeed.  But  it 
should  never  be  forgotten  that  there  are  many  ob¬ 
vious  failures  in  the  face  of  great  inducements  to 
success,  and  many  remarkable  successes  in  the  face 
of  tremendous  obstacles  which  only  the  most  heroic 
courage  and  perseverance  could  have  surmounted. 
When  Longfellow  gave  us  those  heroic  lines  in  the 
Psalm  of  Life,  “Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us  we 
may  make  our  lives  sublime,”  he  struck  the  keynote 
to  an  anthem  of  human  possibility  far  beyond  the 
realization  of  average  men  and  women;  but  it  is  well 
that  children  everywhere  should  be  taught  to  recite 
and  sing  words  of  such  majestic  import,  for  they 
are  fundamentally  sound  as  well  as  intensely  brac¬ 
ing. 

We  have  probably  in  the  course  of  our  inves¬ 
tigations  met  certain  mediumistic  persons,  who  may 
be  thoroughly  honest  and  doing  a  limited  amount  of 
good  work  faithfully  who  have,  by  all  report,  made 
no  progress  during  20,  30,  or  even  40  years.  They 
seem  to  have  come  to  a  standstill ;  they  move  in  a 
rut  or  travel  in  a  groove  round  and  round,  but  ap¬ 
parently  take  no  steps  forward.  These  honest  psy¬ 
chics  may  be  all  they  claim  to  be  and  their  guides  on 
the  unseen  side  of  life  may  be  sincere  and  trust¬ 
worthy,  but  painfully  limited  in  knowledge  and 
lacking  in  the  spirit  of  adventure.  Mediumship  of 
the  sort  possessed  and  exercised  by  persons  of  this 
stamp  is  by  no  means  hurtful  or  dangerous,  but  it  is 
surely  not  extremely  profitable,  and  owing  to  its  neg¬ 
ative  and  stationery  character  it  justifies  the  com¬ 
plaint  made  by  many  progressive-minded  investi¬ 
gators  that  such  a  kind  of  intercourse  with  the  spirit- 
world  fails  to  add  sufficiently  to  our  knowledge  or 
to  the  elevation  of  our  daily  interest  in  it.  It  is  from 
this  cause  more  than  from  any  other  that  many  in¬ 
vestigators  have  turned  away  from  commonplace 
mediumship  to  a  study  of  “occult,”  “theosophical” 


102 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


and  “new  thought”  literature  and  thereby  caused  la¬ 
mentation  in  the  ranks  of  ultra-conservative  Spirit¬ 
ualists  who  protest  against  the  defection  from  their 
ranks  of  persons  who  have  failed  to  receive  edifica¬ 
tion  thru  such  mediumship  channels  as  were  open  to 
them.  It  is  extremely  wise  for  convinced  and  en¬ 
thusiastic  Spiritualists  to  do  their  utmost  to  cultivate 
and  exercise  a  kind  of  mediumship  which  will  bring 
real  satisfaction  to  intelligent  enquirers.  There  is  no 
necessary  opposition  of  mediumship  to  adepthood, 
tho’  the  method  of  becoming  an  adept  is  one  of 
voluntary  affiliation  with  certain  sources  of  informa¬ 
tion  in  place  of  relying  upon  whatever  may  come 
out  of  the  unseen  if  one  takes  and  holds  a  simply 
passive  mental  and  physical  attitude.  It  certainly 
ought  not  to  be  difficult  to  realize  that  the  law  of 
affinity  works  universally  and  regulates  all  psychical 
relationships  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  it  seeming¬ 
ly  determines  material  conditions. 

The  old  proverbial  references  to  like  attracting 
like  and  birds  of  a  feather  flocking  together  are  com¬ 
pletely  applicable  to  what  is  constantly  taking  place 
on  the  psychic  side  of  our  experiences  both  when 
we  are  awake  and  when  we  are  asleep,  and  even 
more  when  we  are  sleeping  than  during  our  wak¬ 
ing  periods.  “Never  walking  heavenward  can  we 
walk  alone”  is  a  true  saying,  and  it  is  furthermore 
true  that  we  can  never  walk  alone  in  any  direction, 
for  we  attract  spiritual  companions  at  all  times  in 
consequence  of  what  Swedenberg  has  termed  our 
“dominant  affection.”  To  the  merely  shiftless  in 
mind  the  idea  of  a  dominant  affection  may  mean 
very  little  indeed,  but  to  all  who  set  some  definite 
goal  before  them  it  means  immensely  much.  We 
can  all  yield  irresolutely  or  waveringly  to  whatever 
influences  may  be  in  the  ascendant,  and  that  is  ex¬ 
actly  what  fickle-minded  people  are  continually  do¬ 
ing.  The  true  adept,  and  all  on  the  path  to  adept- 
hood,  realize  a  goal  ahead  and  resolutely  strive  to 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSHIP 


103 


reach  it,  not  doubtfully  and  anxiously  but  firmly  and 
steadfastly. 

Concentration  on  the  selected  goal  is  the  first 
matter  of  supreme  importance,  and  we  all  know  that 
concentration  only  means  close  and  undivided  in¬ 
terest.  To  concentrate  upon  what  we  greatly  admire 
and  truly  love  is  never  difficult  but  always  extremely 
easy;  difficulty  arises  immediately  we  seek  to  pay 
close  attention  to  something  in  which  we  take  but 
very  little  interest.  Lack  of  concentration  advertises 
lack  of  interest,  and  where  little  interest  is  taken  in 
any  pursuit  definitely  the  goal  of  adepthood  is  an  un¬ 
attainable  ideal.  But  we  can  scarcely  imagine  any¬ 
one  seriously  faring  forth  upon  the  way  of  initiation 
whose  interest  was  at  a  low  ebb  or  a  vacilating  quan¬ 
tity,  unless  the  prompting  motives  were  merely  per¬ 
sonal  glorification  or  some  financial  gain,  in  which 
case  it  would  not  be  desirable  to  seek  to  cultivate  the 
inner  faculties  nor  would  it  be  possible  to  do  so  to 
any  large  extent.  A  vast  amount  of  mischievous 
misapprehension  prevails  concerning  the  relative 
strength  of  the  righthand  and  lefthand  initiates,  to 
employ  current  occult  phraseology.  It  is  erroneously 
taught  in  many  places  that  the  powers  of  darkness 
are  almost  if  not  quite  as  strong  as  the  powers  of 
light,  but  such  an  opinion  is  happily  entirely  fallaci¬ 
ous.  In  such  curiously  instructive  works  as  “High 
Magic”  by  Eliphas  Levi,  and  the  rarer  works  of 
Cornelius  Agrippa  and  other  medieval  alchemists, 
we  are  distinctly  shown  how  very  limited  is  the  abil¬ 
ity  of  the  lower  occult  forces  who  are  sometimes 
referred  to  as  Brethren  of  the  Shadow.  Strength  on 
the  spiritual  side  of  life  is  commensurate  with  devel¬ 
opment  of  righteous  intention,  therefore  it  is  ever 
true,  both  mystically  and  literally,  that  Parsifal  can 
defeat  Klingsor,  but  Klingsor  strives  in  vain  to  sub¬ 
due  Parsifal.  In  that  wonderfully  beautiful  legend 
which  forms  the  motif  of  Richard  Wagner’s  sublim- 
est  opera  and  which  afforded  Alfred  Tennyson  ma¬ 
terial  for  “The  Idyl  of  the  King”  (Arthur)  we  have 


104 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSH1P 


set  before  us  with  unmistakable  clearness  the  path 
of  adepthood  or  the  true  way  of  initiation  into  the 
Greater  Mysteries.  At  first  Parsifal  is  represented  as 
only  a  well-disposed  lad  who  acts  as  other  youths  of 
his  place  and  period,  for  he  goes  forth  with  bow  and 
arrow  and  brings  down  a  bird.  Then  Gurnemanz 
accosts  him  and  rebukes  him  with  seemingly  undue 
severity  for  so  commonplace  an  act,  but  in  his  harsh 
reprimand  we  are  introduced  to  the  true  spirit  of 
initiation.  “Faint  heart  never  wins  fair  lady.” 

To  become  a  knight  of  the  Holy  Grail  one  must 
rise  far  above  the  ordinary  standards  of  popular  so¬ 
ciety  and  immeasurably  transcend  the  mediocre 
standards  of  conventional  morality.  In  the  name  of 
reason  it  may  well  be  asked  how  can  anyone  expect 
to  attain  unusual  powers  or  mount  to  unusual  heights 
without  undergoing  unusual  discipline  and  refraining 
from  prevailing  indiscretion?  Here  we  confront  the 
theological  distinction  between  commandments 
binding  upon  all  respectable  members  of  ordinary 
society  and  “counsels  of  perfection"  binding  only 
upon  such  as  set  forth  upon  the  saintly  pathway 
which  is  the  narrow  road  that  only  few  attempt  to 
tread.  A  saint  is  not  properly  a  person  unsuited  to 
perform  ordinary  duties  in  the  world,  but  one  who 
has  attained  to  a  state  where  he  can  do  far  more  than 
the  ordinary  and  help  humanity  in  many  extraor¬ 
dinary  ways.  The  question  of  sanctity  is  closely  al¬ 
lied  with  sanity  and  the  two  words  look  alike  and 
sound  alike  and  are  indeed  derived  from  a  common 
root,  Sanitas  (health).  To  be  healthy  is  to  be 
whole  and  to  be  whole  is  to  be  saintly.  Abnormal¬ 
ity  is  very  far  from  sanctity,  but  supernormality, 
using  the  term  as  it  is  now  often  employed,  is  insep¬ 
arable  therefrom.  The  cultivation  and  exercise  of 
our  supernormal  faculties  at  our  own  discretion 
marks  a  degree  of  self-direction  definitely  phenom¬ 
enal.  We  are  told  of  “held  breath”  and  of  much 
else  that  strikes  the  average  reader  as  somewhat  dan¬ 
gerous,  in  works  professing  to  give  directions  for 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


105 


attaining  unusual  heights  of  spiritual  development, 
and  it  is  not  safe  for  untrained  and  undisciplined 
persons  to  experiment  with  curious  Oriental  practices 
not  well  understood  in  Europe  or  America  and  often 
adapted  to  India  and  its  native  populations,  but  not 
to  the  average  native  of  any  portion  of  the  Occiden- 
talworld.  Simple  breathing  exercises  may  be  profita¬ 
bly  practised  by  every  normal-minded  person,  but 
it  should  be  steadily  borne  in  mind  that  it  is  far 
more  the  resolute  control  over  our  sense-organs 
gained  and  maintained  by  such  exercises  than  the 
simple  performance  of  prescribed  acts  that  accom¬ 
plishes  initiation. 

If  you  determine  to  breathe  regularly  and  ryth- 
mically  according  to  a  system  you  believe  to  be  bene¬ 
ficial,  you  thereby  develop  ability  to  govern  your 
sense-impulses  when  you  succeed  in  regulating  your 
breath.  Should  you  adopt  fantastic  methods  they 
might  work  injury,  but  if  the  methods  are  rational 
nothing  but  benefit  can  accrue.  Here  we  see  how 
immensely  important  is  the  mental  attitude,  far  tran¬ 
scending  the  physical  behavior,  for  it  is  the  former 
which  dictates  and  governs  the  latter.  Mechanical 
bodily  exercises  such  as  are  practiced  in  an  ordinary 
gymnasium  cannot  unfold  spiritual  qualities,  but  in 
so  far  as  they  are  healthful  in  themselves  they  prove 
of  some  assistance  by  way  of  bringing  the  physique 
into  suitable  conditions  as  an  instrument  for  the 
soul’s  employment.  We  certainly  do  not  find  ath¬ 
letes  and  gymnasts  as  a  class  exceptionally  enlight¬ 
ened  spiritually  unless  they  have  devoted  thought 
to  higher  proficiency  than  that  which  will  enable 
them  to  exhibit  their  muscles  to  admiring  spectators; 
nevertheless  to  the  extent  that  they  are  healthier 
than  a  majority  of  those  who  gaze  upon  their 
achievements  they  are  so  much  nearer  the  goal  of 
adepthood,  and  were  they  to  determine  to  develop 
their  inner  faculties  they  would  at  once  find  their 
athletic  training  standing  them  in  good  stead. 

We  all  know  that  abstinence  and  self-control  are 


106 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


absolutely  essential  to  mental  and  physical  profi¬ 
ciency,  and  what  is  self-control  when  we  definitely 
analyze  it  but  successful  resistance  to  pressure  frorq 
the  lower  sideT  of  existence  both  in  seen  and  in  un¬ 
seen  realms?  In  order  to  become  self-regulating, 
we  must  withstand  all  manner  of  overt  and  subtle 
solicitations  to  do  as  others  do  and  to  gratify  our 
own  lower  impulses  when  higher  impulses  are  urg¬ 
ing  us  in  some  contrary  direction.  It  is  not  gratifica¬ 
tion  of  the  senses  which  is  in  itself  the  cause  of  hu¬ 
man  failure  to  achieve  nobility,  but  disregard  of 
higher  invitations  which  urge  in  a  supersensuous 
direction.  The  adept  is  the  man  or  woman  who 
takes  up  the  mystical  serpent  of  temptation  and 
thereby  transmutes  lower  into  higher  energy.  This 
is  the  mystery  of  transubstantiation.  the  magnum 
opus  of  alchemy,  the  true  transmutation  of  baser 
metals  into  mystical  gold  within  the  human  alembic. 
No  medium  who  simply  allows  himself  to  be  used 
by  guiding  intelligences  is  an  adept,  because  his  atti¬ 
tude  is  one  that  calls  for  no  exercise  of  individual 
sovereignty,  without  which  there  can  be  no  achievi?- 
ment  of  real  victory  over  the  raw  material  out  of 
which  the  new  statue  is  to  be  wrought  by  the  spiritual 
sculptor. 

We  usually  speak  very  glibly  of  the  sacrifices  made 
and  the  victories  won  by  those  highly  advanced  in¬ 
telligences  who  have  conquered  limitations,  and  be¬ 
come  Masters  or  Mahatmas  (greatly  unfolded  souls) 
but  how  are  we  ever  to  advance  likewise  without 
making  similar  effort  ourselves?  When  people  use 
their  reason  on  all  these  matters  and  refuse  reso¬ 
lutely  to  be  swayed  by  floating  will-o’-the-wisp  doc¬ 
trines  concerning  mediumship  and  its  alleged  dan¬ 
gers,  they  will  soon  see  how  perfectly  comprehensi¬ 
ble  is  a  rational  and  edifying  view  of  this  entire 
mighty  subject.  As  we  grow  more  and  more  highly 
individualized  we  become  less  and  less  swayable  by 
extraneous  influences  whether  in  or  out  of  the  flesh, 
therefore  we  have  our  own  say  regarding  our  yield- 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


107 


ing  or  not  yielding  to  invitations  and  impulses,  no 
matter  whence  such  may  proceed. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  growth  toward  adepthood 
we  are  likely  to  appear  self-opinionated  and  self- 
willed  in  a  rather  disagreeable  way,  because  we  are 
at  a  point  on  the  road  where  we  have  to  act  from 
our  own  volition  in  place  of  being  guided  by  others. 
The  mistakes  made  by  experimentists  are  not  wilful 
sins,  but  blunders  due  to  ignorance  which  can  only 
be  mastered  by  repeated  efforts  leading  to  eventual 
conquest.  There  is  no  other  way  of  attainment  than 
thru  the  gateway  and  along  the  path  of  successive 
efforts  to  achieve.  The  student  must  work  out  his 
own  problems,  often  in  solitary  confinement  in  a 
scholastic  cubicle,  before  he  can  reasonably  hope  to 
graduate  with  honors  from  his  college,  and  in  due 
time  and  turn  become  a  professor  in  the  very  uni¬ 
versity  from  which  he  graduated,  or  in  some  similar 
seat  of  learning.  The  idle  stupid  question  is  always 
being  raised,  Why  do  not  our  spiritual  guides  and 
guardian  angels  (if  we  have  any)  protect  us  at  all 
times  from  falling  into  error?  Tire  answer  is  simply 
that  if  they  did  thus  completely  shield  us  we  should 
be  rendered  chronically  subservient  and  actually 
automatic,  therefore  never  able  to  reach  to  any  such 
attainment  ourselves  as  those  more  advanced  entities 
have  reached  already.  You  can  often  be  controlled, 
if  you  are  willing  to  be,  by  very  good  influences 
who  will  pour  helpful  teachings  thru  your  lips  that 
will  prove  helpful  to  others;  but  when  you  set  forth 
upon  the  road  of  self-initiation  you  have  to  assume 
far  more  individual  responsibility,  and  for  a  time 
forego  many  delightful  helps  which  assisted  you 
along  earlier  portions  of  the  spiritual  incline.  When 
adepthood  has  been  attained,  our  relationship  with 
the  spirit-world  is  consciously  far  closer  than  ever 
previously,  for  then  with  open  vision  do  we  behold 
what  formerly  was  only  communicated  to  us  by 
hearsay. 

Whatever  special  exercises  you  may  find  profit- 


108 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


able  you  have  a  right  to  pursue,  but  it  is  unwise, 
and  sometimes  dangerous,  to  endeavor  to  foist  on 
others  your  own  especial  practices. 

If  every  night  before  allowing  sleep  to  overtake 
us  we  fix  our  thought  steadily  on  some  special  goal 
of  spiritual  desire,  during  our  sleeping  period  we 
shall  be  introduced  to  halls  of  learning  and  compan¬ 
ioned  by  helpful  preceptors  who  will  greatly  aid  us 
on  the  forward  path. 

Whether  we  actively  remember  these  experiences 
after  we  have  awakened  or  not,  will  depend  upon 
how  gradually  we  have  returned  from  the  sleeping 
to  the  waking  state  and  how  far  our  outer  brains 
are  ready  to  receive  psychical  impressions,  but  no 
profitable  experience  in  sleep  ever  fails  to  produce  a 
beneficial  result  from  which  we  profit  knowingly  or 
unknowingly  during  waking  periods. 


LESSON  XII. 

Objections,  Answers  and  Observations  on  the 
Higher  Uses  of  Mediumship 

In  its  largest  connotation,  the  familiar  word  Medi¬ 
umship  of  necessity  implies  far  more  than  when  used 
in  any  ordinary  restricted,  or  even  in  any  restrictable 
sense.  The  actual  fact  of  spirit-communion  is  here 
and  there,  now  and  again  demonstrated  thru  the  in¬ 
strumentality  of  some  highly  sensitive  man,  woman 
or  child,  and  intelligent  investigators  become  con¬ 
vinced  that  there  is,  at  least  occasionally  and  in  some 
limited  degree,  intercourse  between  two  planes  of  ex¬ 
istence  frequently  termed  two  worlds.  But  tho  so 
small  a  measure  of  spiritual  revelation  is  distinctly 
valuable  and  serves  to  suggest  an  all-including  phi¬ 
losophy  of  human  life  and  purpose  far  brighter  and 
more  rational  than  antiquated  materialistic  theories, 
the  wider  aspects  of  the  mediumistic  question  are  oft-  ^ 
en  entirely  overlooked  because  of  too  intense  con¬ 
centration  mentally  upon  matters  of  immediate  in¬ 
terest  to  persons  whose  sole  object,  here  and  now, 
is  to  prove  the  single  fact  of  life’s  individual  con¬ 
tinuity. 

The  fact  is  often  commented  upon  adversely  that 
a  majority  of  alleged  spirit-messages, — many  of 
them  undoubtedly  genuine  to  the  fullest  extent  pos¬ 
sible  in  the  limiting  circumstances, — are  trivial  and 
throw  very  little  light  upon  the  life  continuous,  con¬ 
cerning  which  they  undertake  to  deal. 

So  very  unimportant,  relatively  speaking,  is  the 
subject-matter  of  probably  90  per  cent  of  average 
mediumistic  “messages”  that  we  need  not  wonder 
or  feel  annoyed  when  we  hear  them  classified  as 
trivial  in  the  extreme. 

The  triviality,  however,  does  not  render  them 
worthless  or  uninteresting  even  from  a  scientific 
standpoint,  but  it  does  produce  a  feeling  of  discon¬ 
tent  in  the  minds  of  seekers  after  more  of  truth  than 
is  conveyed  in  such  limited  communications.  An 
obvious  reason  for  such  messages  is  that  they  an- 

109 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


I  10 

swer  a  constant  demand  more  or  less  satisfactorily, 
and  also  that  they  emanate  from  individuals  who 
have  had  no  wide  experience  in  spirit-life  and  who 
were  commonplace  men  and  women  when  they  lived 
on  earth.  Professor  Hyslop  and  other  well-known 
investigators  of  prominence  in  the  field  of  Psychical 
Research  have  wisely  and  fairly  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  very  often  a  seemingly  trivial  communi¬ 
cation  is  possessed  of  higher  evidential  value  than 
many  a  much  loftier  and  far  more  philosophical  ut¬ 
terance  given  thru  the  lips  of  some  inspired  orator, 
simply  because  the  trivial  message  contained  some 
individual  quality  characteristic  of  the  personal 
source  whence  it  was  said  to  emanate. 

Professor  Hyslop  in  his  published  works  on  this 
fascinating  subject  shows  reasonably  and  clearly 
how  very  commonplace  are  our  daily  conversations 
with  our  friends  and  the  letters  we  usually  write  to 
our  general  acquaintances,  even  tho  some  of  us  may 
be  men  and  women  of  considerable  prominence  in 
literary  and  scientific  circles. 

Thomas  Huxley  said  at  one  time,  when  one  of  his 
scientific  colleagues  had  called  attention  to  spirit- 
communications  which  had  satisfied  Professor  Alfred 
Russel  Wallace  and  other  eminent  scientific  celebri¬ 
ties,  that  he  did  not  deny  any  of  the  assumed  facts. 
Neither  was  he  prepared  to  admit  them,  but  granting 
their  genuineness  they  were  of  no  more  interest  to 
him  than  would  be  the  conversation  of  a  company 
of  trivial  young  persons  playing  a  game  of  crouquet 
on  a  country  lawn  were  he  able  to  hear  it  while  sit¬ 
ting  in  some  room  in  London. 

From  one  standpoint  we  can  understand  Huxley’s 
attitude  easily  enough,  but  it  was  long  ago  pointed 
out  thatjt  by  no  means  expressed  the  truly  scientific 
spirit,  and  it  certainly  made  no  allowance  whatever 
for  the  enormous  part  played  by  personal  affection 
in  human  life  at  all  times  everywhere.  If  those 
young  people  were  unknown  to  the  listener,  and 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


I  I  1 

their  talk  had  no  reference  to  any  matter  which  con¬ 
cerned  him  sympathetically,  we  can  comprehend 
and  agree  with  his  position  entirely;  but  if  those 
young  persons  were  his  sons  and  daughters,  or  oth¬ 
er  relatives  or  students  in  whom  he  took  a  fatherly 
interest,  the  case  would  be  entirely  different.  Letters 
received  from  home,  wherever  home  may  be,  are  not 
usually  valued  as  fine  literary  productions,  but  sim¬ 
ply  as  epistles  written  by  some  person  in  whose  lives 
we  take  much  more  than  common  interest.  It  is  not 
the  worth  of  the  message  so  much  as  the  kindly 
spirit  of  the  writer  that  gives  us  joy  when  we  receive 
the  missive. 

Having  now  justified  in  outline  the  interest  usual¬ 
ly  taken  in  messages  which  lack  high  literary  or 
scientific  value,  we  ought  to  be  ready  to  gaze  much 
further  afield  and  reckon  with  other  and  more  near¬ 
ly  universal  aspects  of  spirit-communion  concerning 
which  there  is  still  dense  popular  ignorance.  Once 
admit  that  spirit-communion  is  a  fact  in  the  economy 
of  nature,  and  we  cannot  escape  from  the  conclusion 
that  it  is  an  unacknowledged  factor  in  all  our  lives 
to  an  extent  impossible  to  define  completely.  In¬ 
tercommunion  and  interdependence  are  two  words 
which  express  the  universal  co-operative  spirit. 
None  of  us  can  live  to  ourselves  alone,  not  even  if 
like  Robinson  Crusoe  we  should  spend  a  year  or 
more  on  a  solitary  island  without  even  one  human 
companion  in  the  flesh.  The  better  acquainted  we 
become  with  telepathy,  mental  telepathy,  and  all 
else  that  concerns  psychic  intercourse  between  per¬ 
sons  yet  in  the  flesh  without  the  intervention  of 
ordinary  physical  means  of  converse,  the  clearer 
does  it  become  that  we  can  and  do,  both  knowingly 
and  unknowingly,  when  we  are  awake  and  when 
we  are  asleep,  commune  one  with  another  in  subtle 
ways  unknown  to  any  of  our  external  senses.  Ten¬ 
nyson’s  expression  ‘‘spirit  with  spirit,  ghost  with 
ghost,”  truly  voices  this  fact.  This  spiritual  or  ghost¬ 
ly  intercourse  between  intimate  friends,  such  as 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


112 

to  realize  their  existence  on  earth,  seeing  that  every 
institution  is  brought  into  existence  and  kept  alive 
psychically,  rather  than  physically. 

“He  is  a  Jew  who  is  one  inwardly,”  is  a  text  con¬ 
taining  a  tremendous  wealth  of  food  for  thought. 
Many  nominal  Jews  on  earth  have  no  love  for  Juda¬ 
ism,  therefore  in  spirit-life  they  are  not  numbered 
among  Israel’s  sons  and  daughter,  while  others  who 
have  no  Hebrew  ancestry  and  have  not  been  brought 
up  in  the  faith  of  Israel  are  spiritually  members  of 
the  House  of  Israel,  because  of  their  vital  sympathy 
with  Jewish  ideals. 

No  greater  mistake  can  possibly  be  made  than  to 
suppose  that  external  membership  in  any  organiza¬ 
tion  constitutes  affiliation,  or  that  lack  of  external 
membership  excludes  anyone  from  spiritual  com¬ 
munion.  In  all  churches  and  parties  there  are  nom¬ 
inal  members  who  have  no  spiritual  affiliation  with 
the  institution  to  which  they  outwardly  belong,  and 
there  is  always  a  membership  unseen  by  mortal 
eyes  and  unregistered  in  material  books  which  goes 
to  make  up  the  soul  or  spirit  of  the  federation. 
Nothing  is  easier  than  to  force  a  good  many  people 
to  join  and  outwardly  support  an  institution  of  any 
kind  on  account  of  worldly  advantages  on  one  side 
and  disadvantages  on  the  other;  but  enforced  out¬ 
ward  membership  is  detrimental  to  the  body  which 
contains  these  unwillingly  incorporated  cells,  the 
presence  of  which  causes  incessant  friction  and  re¬ 
sults  in  ultimate  disruption.  In  the  spirit-life  all  asso¬ 
ciations  are  far  more  nearly  voluntary  than  on  earth, 
by  reason  of  the  fact  that  ulterior  motives  cannot 
be  appealed  to  anything  like  the  same  extent. 

No  one  can  ordain  or  disallow  spirit-communion 
in  reality,  tho  shortsighted  dictators  may  issue  per¬ 
emptory  edicts  commanding  their  subjects  to  either 
join  in  exercises  intended  to  induce  spirit-  commun¬ 
ion  or  else  to  refrain  entirely  from  all  participation 
in  such  exercises. 

The  mental  blindness  of  such  dictators  is  pitiable 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


113 


Alfred  Tennyson  and  Arthur  Hallam,  may  be  more 
keenly  intense  when  there  is  so  very  much  spiritual 
affinity  as  exists  undoubtedly  between  especially 
close  friends,  but  there  is  a  friendship  and  spiritual 
intimacy  between  companions  or  affinitizing  souls 
which  embraces  entire  communities  or  societies  in 
spirit-life,  and  it  is  with  one  or  another  of  these 
spheres,  not  exclusively  with  some  particular  individ¬ 
ual,  that  we  most  frequently  hold  communion  when 
our  affections  and  thoughts  are  centered  in  matters 
of  communal  and  sometimes  of  even  world-wide  in¬ 
terest. 

Some  particular  “movement”  or  aspect  of  local  re¬ 
form  may  be  the  “hobby”  of  certain  peculiar  people 
whose  outlook  upon  life  in  general  is  very  much 
restricted  and  who  cannot  see  much  value  in  any¬ 
thing  outside  the  narrow  confines  of  their  parochial 
club.  Such  persons  are  often  highly  conscientious 
and  truly  inspired  by  unseen  helpers  who  engage 
with  them  in  the  limited  philanthrophy  in  which 
they  take  delight.  On  the  unseen  side  there  are 
far  more  workers  than  on  the  outwardly  visible  side 
of  such  a  group  of  workers  who  live  in  their  own 
especial  fold,  like  sheep  marked  with  an  owner's 
name  and  carefully  guarded  by  shepherd  and  dog 
lest  they  stray  into  other  pastures.  To  persons  who 
love  limitations,  and  to  whom  narrow  conventional¬ 
ism  affords  placid  pleasure,  are  attracted  influences 
who,  while  in  the  flesh,  lived  in  the  same  affectation 
and  who  have  not  yet  outgrown  it.  Every  “heav¬ 
en”  conceived  of  can  have  an  actual  temporary  ex¬ 
istence,  and  to  the  individuals  now  constituting  it,  it 
may  appear  a  permanently  satisfactory  institution. 

When  a  soul,  passing  out  of  the  earthly  tabernacle, 
insists  upon  receiving  the  ministrations  of  some  par¬ 
ticular  society  or  church,  we  may  feel  assured  that 
that  soul  is  willingly,  indeed  wilfully,  entering  a  cer¬ 
tain  clearly  defined  section  of  the  spirit-world.  It 
need  be  no  more  difficult  to  conceive  of  the  existence 
of  definite  bodies  or  denominations  in  spirit-life  than 


114 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSH1P 


in  the  extreme,  for  to  the  vision  of  a  seer  the  means 
intended  to  promote  an  end  in  all  such  cases  must 
invariably  defeat  it.  That  is  why  punishment  is  an 
egregious  blunder  and  assists  to  promote  the  very 
crimes  of  misdemeanors  it  is  intended  to  destroy. 
If  you  should  forbid  a  child  or  a  dependent  from 
attending  a  meeting  of  any  kind  you  could  keep  the 
physical  body  away  but  you  could  not  prevent  the 
mind  from  traveling,  therefore  you  could  not  suc¬ 
cessfully  forbid  a  particular  kind  of  psychic  influx  of 
which  you  disapproved.  You  may  lock  up  prison¬ 
ers  in  jails,  but  you  can  only  incarnate  the  flesh. 
You  may  execute  a  malefactor,  but  you  cannot  re¬ 
form  an  individual  by  depriving  one  of  his  outer 
body.  The  whole  blind  punitive  system,  which  is 
now  breaking  up  the  world  over,  is  based  in  gross 
materialism  and  fostered  by  complete  ignorance  of 
the  operation  of  law  on  the  unseen  planes  of  nature. 
Contemporaneously  with  the  amazing  demonstration 
of  interest  in  all  psychic  questions  which  character¬ 
izes  the  present  day,  we  find  a  world-wide  determin¬ 
ation  to  correct  hoary  abuses  and  completely  recon¬ 
struct  the  penal  system.  The  world  at  large  is  be¬ 
ginning  to  see  how  worse  than  futile  are  all  endeav¬ 
ors  to  reconstruct  character  by  punishment  or  to  ef¬ 
fect  reform  by  repression.  The  less  one  talks  about 
a  subjectTfie  more  one  is  apt  to  meditate  thereon  in 
silence,  and  it  is  through  silent  meditation  or  con- 
templation,  far  more  than  through  noisy  shouting 
that  great  results  are  brought  to  pass. 

The  only  advantages  accruing  at  any  time  from 
outward  measures  are  to  be  traced  finally  to  the 
status  of  mind  they  tend  to  induce  and  the  special 
affections  they  incline  to  foster.  Works  of  art  which 
long  endure  have  been  born  out  of  spiritual  con¬ 
sciousness  and  stand  externally  as  monuments  to  the 
great  love  and  deep  thought  which  originally  in¬ 
spired  them. 

The  spiritual  realm  is  a  region  of  affectional  con¬ 
junctions  in  which  souls  flew  together  in  consequence 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


115 

of  some  common  affection  and  drift  apart  by  reason 
of  lack  of  interior  congeniality.  War  and  peace  are 
the  two  great  opposites,  therefore,  it  would  appear 
that  no  warrior  could  enter  Heaven,  which  is  a  col¬ 
lective  name  for  all  orderly  spheres;  Hell  being  a 
collective  name  for  all  disorderly  conditions. 

It  is  true  that  no  one  can  affiliate  with  heavenly  in¬ 
fluences  in  so  far  as  he  loves  strife  and  wishes  to 
intensify  it,  but  when  a  warrior  goes  to  war  in  the 
belief  that  it  is  his  stern  duty  and  that  he  is  fighting 
in  a  righteous  cause,  he  is  by  no  means  entirely  cut 
off  from  the  blessing  of  a  celestial  influx.  Sherman’s 
famous  saying  ‘‘War  is  Hell”  was  wrung  from  the  in¬ 
trepid  soldier  because  he  had  seen  the  horrors  of 
battle  and  felt  his  true  humanity  awakening  within 
him.  Such  a  man  passing  into  spirit  life  becomes  an 
arbitrator,  a  peace-maker;  not  one  who  eggs  on  na¬ 
tions  to  continued  conflict.  That  there  are  warlike 
spirits  fighting  for  their  respective  countries  we  know 
right  well,  and  it  is  extremely  easy  to  get  in  touch 
with  them,  for  they  are  still  in  the  earth’s  immediate 
atmosphere  and  present  at  recruiting  stations  and 
wherever  else  the  war  fever  is  encouraged.  It  is  ex¬ 
tremely  probable  that  many  of  the  limited  patriotic 
influences  are  urging  men  and  women  to  embark  on 
a  career  of  military  “duty,”  while  other  more  enlight¬ 
ened  influences  are  persuading  the  same  persons  to 
take  a  higher  and  milder  view  of  duty  and  work  at 
peaceful  industries  for  the  true  upbuilding  of  their 
native  lands  and  for  the  ultimate  benefit  of  the  entire 
human  race. 

To  merely  claim  that  one  is  guided  by  unseen  in¬ 
fluences  to  perform  certain  definite  deeds  is  not  to 
rationally  justify  those  deeds,  because  the  unseen 
universe  contains  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  human- 
ty,  and  we  can  be  genuinely  inspired  from  an  im¬ 
mense  variety  of  sources.  The  vital  crux  of  the  en¬ 
tire  situation  is  to  be  found  solely  in  the  motives 
which  prompt  us  in  our  silent  moments  when  we  are 
most  susceptible  to  spiritual  influence. 


116 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSH1P 


Nothing  can  effectually  separate  us  from  what  we 
truly  love,  therefore,  no  influences  can  ever  come 
truly  near  us  in  the  most  intensely  vital  way  unless 
we  and  they  are  united  by  the  cords  of  deep  mental 
affection.  To  merely  profess  interest  in  the  world’s 
welfare  and  verbally  endorse  well-sounding  pacific 
phrases  is  not  enough  to  protect  us  against  the  spirit 
of  destructive  militarism,  but  sincere  love  of  human¬ 
ity,  whether  outwardly  expressed  or  not,  must  of 
necessity  bind  us  closely  in  communion  with  the  great 
army  of  philanthropists  who  are  working  diligently 
and  incessantly  to  scatter  finally  the  dark  war  clouds 
which  have  so  long  hung  over  the  earth  as  a  murky 
pall,  and  which  are  now  being  dispersed  rapidly 
even  thru  the  direful  agency  of  active  exterior  bell¬ 
igerence. 

Whenever  a  great  crisis  is  reached  there  is  a  fierce 
clashing  in  the  unseen  spheres  attaching  to  this 
planet;  indeed,  constituting  its  far  larger  portion. 
This  is  the  “war  in  heaven’’  mentioned  in  the  Apo¬ 
calypse.  (Vide  Rev.  xii,  7.) 

In  a  period  of  such  extreme  sensitiveness  as  the 
present  we  are  witnessing  demonstrations  of  world¬ 
wide  mediumship  in  far  more  than  ordinary  degree, 
and  it  is  for  us  to  definitely  decide  whether  we  will 
range  ourselves  or  not  on  some  definite  side  as  con¬ 
viction  prompts  us. 

It  is  useless  to  condemn  any  one,  but  it  is  reason¬ 
able  to  throw  all  the  light  we  can  on  the  causes  of 
manifest  effects,  for  though  the  fixed  relation  beween 
Cause  and  Effect  remains  utterly  beyond  our  power  to 
influence,  we  can  take  such  practical  advantage  of 
this  immutable  order  as  to  regulate  our  inner  living 
so  as  to  affiliate  only  with  such  types  of  influences  as 
we  wish  to  have  for  intimate  companions. 

Fear  attracts,  and  so  does  hate.  By  fearing  we 
attract  the  object  of  our  dread,  and  by  hating  we 
attract  the  objects  of  our  aversion. 

If  psychics,  sensitives  or  mediums  everywhere 
would  but  face  this  mighty  problem  definitely  and 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSHIP 


117 


straightforwardly  they  would  soon  greatly  lessen 
their  present  sufferings  and  immensely  increase  their 
happiness  and  usefulness.  While  it  is  important 
that  everyone  should  awaken  to  this  mighty  truth 
concerning  the  universal  operation  of  the  immutable 
Law  of  Attraction,  it  is  supremely  important  that  the 
more  sensitive  among  us  should  become  aroused  to 
the  importance  of  rightly  understanding  it. 

Mediumship  can  be  made  a  great  universal  bless¬ 
ing  and  nothing  but  a  blessing,  while  now  it  is  part¬ 
ly  a  bane.  The  whole  universe  is  at  our  service. 
We  can  tap  it  where  we  please  directly  we  have  be¬ 
come  convinced  of  the  limitless  power  of  united  love 
and  thought,  which,  working  in  double  harness,  can 
truly  accomplish  all  things. 

What  is  known  as  Prophetic  Mediumship  figures 
largely  in  nearly  all  discussions  concerning  the  part 
played  by  unseen  spiritual  influences  in  this  planet’s 
guidance.  Can  events  be  definitely  foretold  and,  if 
so,  how?  is  a  question  of  universal  and  perennial 
interest,  and  one  by  no  means  easy  to  answer  with¬ 
out  acquaintanceship  with  many  hidden  causes  which 
never  meet  the  outward  eye.  The  false  view  of  pre¬ 
diction  taken  by  a  multitude  of  fatalistic  thinkers, 
whose  thought  is  never  profound,  is  that  to  foretell 
an  event  accurately  is  to  justify  the  doctrine  that 
every  occurrence  on  earth  is  foreordained  and  there¬ 
fore  pre-necessitated,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave 
no  room  for  the  exercise  of  human  freedom. 

Our  sense  of  freedom  is  often  referred  to  as  an 
illusion  by  these  shallow  would-be  philosophers  who 
are  overlooking  the  most  important  of  all  the  factors 
in  the  problem  they  imagine  they  have  correctly 
solved.  The  immutability  of  law,  coupled  with  the 
possibility  of  beholding  with  the  eye  of  seership  the 
workings  of  law  on  an  interior  plane  or  in  a  region 
veiled  from  exterior  observation,  are  the  two  lead¬ 
ing  factors  in  the  matter  we  are  now  considering. 
Granting  these  two  essentials  it  becomes  compara¬ 
tively  easy  to  account  for  predictions  subsequently 


118 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


fulfilled  without  tolerating  any  fatalistic  view  of  hu¬ 
man  destiny. 

“Coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before  them,” 
is  an  oft  quoted  and  truthful  saying,  but  one  that 
seldom  receives  the  thoughtful  attention  it  richly 
deserves.  A  coming  event  must  be  on  some  road 
traveling  from  one  place  or  plane  to  another,  and  as 
it  journeys  its  casts  a  shadow  in  advance  which  an 
unusually  sensitive  individual  can  perceive,  but  this 
“shadow’  ’is  not  detectable  by  persons  who  lack 
sufficient  sensitiveness  to  detect  it. 

The  fact  that  a  letter  has  been  already  posted  and 
is  on  the  way  to  a  person  to  whom  it  is  addressed, 
and  the  further  fact  that  the  postman  will  deliver  it 
at  a  certain  time  at  a  certain  door  may  be  clairvoy- 
antly  apprehended.  A  statement  may  be  made  much 
as  follows:  “You  will  receive  a  letter  three  weeks 
from  today,  postmarked  Sydney.”  The  person  ad¬ 
dressed  may  reply,  “I  know  no  one  in  Australia.” 
That  makes  no  difference  to  the  clairvoyant  who 
still  persists  that  she  sees  the  letter  coming  to  that 
person  at  that  time,  and  at  the  expiration  of  three 
intervening  weeks  the  predicted  missive  is  in  your 
hands.  An  international  conflict  is  an  immensely 
greater  event  to  foretell  than  the  arrival  of  an  un¬ 
expected  private  letter;  but  the  law  governing  both 
predictions  is  exactly  the  same,  as  in  both  instances 
the  prophecy  is  based  upon  more  than  ordinary  in¬ 
formation  in  possession  of  the  prophet.  A  prophet 
who  simply  announces  the  advent  of  an  unexpected 
event  of  world-wide  moment  has  not  of  necessity 
any  more  responsibility  for  its  coming  than  has  the 
predictor  of  the  letter’s  arrival  at  your  house  any 
responsibility  for  what  it  contains  or  for  the  previous 
act  of  the  writer  who  indited  it. 

When  causes  are  already  in  motion  and  things 
are  traveling  outward  from  unseen  places  as  seeds 
sprout  in  the  ground,  there  is  no  fatalism  in  definite¬ 
ly  predicting  the  appearance  of  a  certain  crop  at  the 
end  of  a  determinable  germinative  period.  There  is. 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


I  19 

a  time  when  we  are  free  to  act  or  free  to  refrain  from 
action,  but  once  having  acted  in  a  definite  manner 
we  are  not  free  to  escape  the  consequence  of  the 
completed  deed.  It  may  be  further  declared  that 
precisely  as  the  actions  of  men  and  women  on  earth 
lead  to  certain  inevitable  consequences  through  the 
unalterable  working  of  the  law  of  cause  and  effect, 
so  do  the  actions  of  spiritual  entities  disrobed  of 
gross  material  forms  produce  results  in  planetary 
government.  The  balance  of  power  is  always  in  the 
hands  of  the  most  highly  intelligent.  Knowledge 
gives  power,  while  ignorance  must  ever  be  the  con¬ 
comitant  of  weakness.  The  book  of  Daniel  contains 
the  expressive  statement,  “that  ye  may  know  that 
the  heavens  do  rule,"  a  very  favorite  proof  text  with 
astrologers.  What  is  exactly  meant  by  “the  heavens” 
is  an  open  question  with  many  commentors,  for 
while  all  may  agree  that  reference  is  made  to  some 
celestial  states  superior  to  all  things  terrestrial,  the 
mode  of  action  of  these  “heavens”  is  not  always, 
fully  decipherable. 

If  heavens  are  taken  collectively  to  signify  in¬ 
terior  states,  and  earth  stands  for  exterior  conditions, 
the  meaning  of  the  passage  quoted  is  sufficiently 
clear,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  a  correct 
view  of  heavenly  operations  must  include  the  action 
of  incarnate  and  excarnate  humanity.  The  hand¬ 
writing  on  the  wall  at  Belshazzar’s  feast  has  often 
been  cited  as  one  of  the  most  amazing  combinations 
of  physical  with  prophetic  mediumship  on  record, 
and  it  reads  as  though  the  time  had  then  come  in 
Babylon  when  it  was  too  late  to  save  an  empire 
which  had  grown  so  corrupt  as  to  be  at  the  very 
point  of  necessary  overthrow. 

The  chief  value  of  a  prophetic  utterance  at  so 
dreadful  a  time  would  be  to  give  some  opportunity 
for  escape  for  those  who  would  heed  the  warning, 
otherwise  a  bald  prediction  would  be  useful  only  as 
illustrating  the  inevitable  doom  of  iniquity,  and  in 
that  case  it  would  be  capable  of  conveying  a  valu- 


120 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


able  moral  lesson.  To  simply  predict  impending 
doom  is  mere  fortune  telling,  which  does  not  deserve 
to  rank  with  enlightened  and  enlightening  prophecy. 
One  of  Shakespeare’s  characters  has  truly  said 
“There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men  that,  taken  at 
the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune.”  The  truly  useful  in¬ 
spired  and  inspiring  prophet  is  one  who  can  declare 
when  that  tide  will  come  in  and  who  assists  those 
who  hearken  to  words  of  prophecy  to  take  advant¬ 
age  of  the  flood.  To  sow  in  watered  earth  is  to  act 
wisely,  and  it  is  to  prepare  for  a  rich  harvest  of  bread 
in  days  to  come.  While  to  sow  at  the  wrong  time 
for  sowing  is  to  court  disappointment,  unwittingly 
or  carelessly.  It  is  not  rational  to  believe  that  the 
affairs  of  earth  are  either  arbitrarily  dictated  by  un¬ 
seen  influences  or  that  the  earth  is  left  without  spirit¬ 
ual  promptings  and  guidance.  The  simplest  defini¬ 
tions  are  often  the  most  correct  interpretations. 
Teachers  stand  over  scholars  to  aid  them  in  their 
studies,  but  at  no  experimental  stations,  and  in  no 
laboratory  where  apprentices  are  acquiring  ability 
through  experimentation  of  their  own  to  become  ex¬ 
perts,  can  learned  professors  absolutely  control  the 
movements  of  the  students  in  such  wise  as  to  make 
the  student  entirely  reliant  on  the  wisdom  and  fore¬ 
thought  of  their  preceptor.  We  should  always  re¬ 
member  that  this  earth  is  a  seminary,  a  place  of  edu¬ 
cation;  neither  a  place  of  reward  or  punishment. 
The  school  idea  is  one  that  appeals  to  all  thoughtful 
minds.  We  are  not  automatic  agents  of  unseen  in¬ 
telligences,  but  pupils  under  the  direction  of  teach¬ 
ers  and  given  an  ever-increasing  amount  af  latitude 
for  self-directing  action  as  we  proceed  from  class  to 
class  and  advance  from  the  rank  of  juniors  to  that 
of  seniors  in  this  terrestrial  academy.  Mediumship, 
in  the  last  analysis,  is  simply  susceptibility  to  inform¬ 
ation  obtained  psychicaly  in  one  or  another  of  many 
possible  ways,  ranging  from  original  infantile  sus¬ 
ceptibility  to  extraneous  guidance  to  mature  deliber¬ 
ative  exercise  of  inherent  faculties  employable  or 
not  at  the  discretion  of  their  owners. 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


121 


As  all  things  work  together  for  eventual  good  to 
all,  we  may  rest  assured  that  the  higher  intelligences 
are  always  immeasurably  stronger  than  the  lower, 
and  that  righteousness  will  ultimately  conquer  all 
inquiry. 

But  true  optimism  does  not  blindly  chirp  out  the 
childish  words  “God’s  in  his  heaven;  all’s  right  with 
the  world,”  which  Robert  Browning  put  into  the 
mouth  of  an  inexperienced  girl  going  out  at  7  o’clock 
on  an  April  holiday  morning.  It  is  to  Abt  Vogler 
rather  than  to  the  song  from  Pippa  Passes  that  we 
must  look  to  find  Browning’s  genuine  and  incontro¬ 
vertible  optimism;  for  it  is  not  the  untried  and  un¬ 
tempted  who  can  truly  sing  the  triumphant  song  of 
faith  vindicated  and  hope  transformed  to  blissful 
realization,  but  those  who  have  born  the  burden  of 
trial  and,  having  seen  their  early  illusions  vanish, 
have  supplanted  those  roseate  dreams  of  childhood 
with  certainties  derived  from  actual  experience  of 
how  all  roads  that  wind  and  turn  eventually  lead 
into  abiding  light. 

We  need  a  revelation  through  enlightened  medi- 
umship  far  transcending  the  borderline  experiences 
now  so  common,  and  as  we  learn  the  lesser  lessons 
which  those  smaller  revelations  teach,  we  become 
prepared  for  fuller  unveilings  of  the  boundless  spirit¬ 
ual  universe  of  which  this  planet  though  a  minute  is 
by  no  means  an  unimportant  section. 

Come  up  higher  is  ever  the  counsel  of  exalted 
spiritual  intelligences,  and  from  the  sublime  alti¬ 
tudes  of  celestial  blessedness  we  derive  encourage¬ 
ment  to  press  forward  even  as  those  have  already 
pressed  on  who  are  now  our  chief  enlighteners.  A  true 
spiritual  philosophy  is  exquisitely  simple  and  at  the 
same  time  immeasurably  profound.  Every  question 
asked  by  the  human  mind  is  progressively  answer- 
able,  but  we  must  advance  step  by  step,  line  upon 
line,  and  digest  precept  after  precept  in  logical  con¬ 
secutive  sequential  order.  There  are  no  limits  to  at¬ 
tainable  knowledge  and  none  to  our  possible  indi- 


122 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSH1P 


vidual  achievements.  To  set  a  justifiable  limit  to 
spiritual  revelation  is  unthinkable.  We  must  either 
cTeny  it  altogether  or  allow  that  it  is  boundless. 
Fnally  considered,  there  are  no  real  inconsistencies 
in^any  statements  made  L>y  communicating  entities, 
because  none  can  describe  things  other  than  as  they 
view  them.  To  those  who  declare  that  we  are  arbi¬ 
trarily  fated,  so  it  appears;  but  this  is  in  consequence 
of  lack  of  consciousness  of  innate  ability  to  trans¬ 
cend  environment  on  the  part  of  the  fatalistic  bab¬ 
blers.  In  an  undeveloped  state  of  consciousness  we 
are  indeed  subject  to  the  sway  of  our  surroundings, 
for  we  are  the  foolish  ones  who  are  ruled  by  their 
stars  according  to  the  old  astrological  adage;  but  as 
we  advance  in  self-knowledge  we  become  rulers 
where  we  formerly  were  slaves.  We  may  hear  of 
spirits  mourning  over  the  troubles  of  those  left  be¬ 
hind  on  earth  to  battle  fiercely  with  a  hard,  cold 
world,  and  we  may  also  hear  of  encouragement  and 
cheer  given  to  mourners  by  friends  who  have  passed 
to  upper  spheres.  All  these  declarations  coincide 
with  certain  facts  in  human  experience,  but  experi¬ 
ences  on  both  sides  of  the  “veil’’  are  so  immensely 
varied  that  we  must  strive  to  take  into  account  the 
exact  source  whence  a  statement  is  received  before 
deciding  as  to  its  value  for  our  guidance. 

Nothing  Can  Ever  Be  Too  Good  To  Be  True 

It  is  always  wise  to  apply  practically  the  prag¬ 
matic  or  ultilitarian  test  to  all  revelations.  We  must 
try  all  teachings  by  the  effect  they  can  produce  if 
we  accept  them.  Common  sense  alone  suffices  to 
convince  the  open-minded  that  pessimism  and  fatal¬ 
ism  are  incapable  of  aiding  human  progress  or  con¬ 
tributing  in  any  measure  to  health,  success  or  hap¬ 
piness.  Let  us  not  waste  energy  and  depress  our 
mentality  by  indulging  in  the  entertainment  of 
theories  or  in  coqueting  with  doctrines  which  prove 
themselves  inaccurate  by  the  sad  effects  they  pro¬ 
duce  wherever  they  are  welcomed  and  adhered  to. 


LAWS  OF  MED1UMSHIP 


123 


Suicide  is  justified  by  hopelessness.  Progress  is  ac¬ 
complished  by  holding  on  through  light  and  dark¬ 
ness  to  the  magnificent  assurance  that  truth  must 
eventually  conquer  all  error,  and  virtue  triumph 
over  every  shape  of  vice.  In  the  exercise  of  medium- 
ship  we  should  resolve  uncompromisingly  to  yield  to 
such  influences  from  unseen  planes  as  render  us  aid 
by  helping  us  to  live  more  nobly  ourselves  and  at 
the  same  time  assist  our  neighbors  to  rise  superior  to 
whatever  tends  to  hold  them  down.  World-de¬ 
velopment  means  the  unification  eventually  of  all 
nations  and  interests  in  one  glorious  co-operative 
federation.  The  old  monopolistic,  tyrranical,  op¬ 
pressive  and  repressive  systems  of  government  and 
administration  have  been  weighed  in  the  balances  of 
reason  and  equity  and  found  so  completely  wanting 
that  they  are  doomed  to  quick  extinction,  and  the 
whole  earth  will  rejoice  when  purer  governments  and 
juster  laws  have  succeeded  to  those  dying  relics  of  a 
less  enlightened  past. 

Spiritual  hosts  of  light  are  ushering  in  the  world’s 
glad,  bright,  new  day,  and  it  is  for  all  who  love 
justice  and  seek  to  array  themselves  on  the  side  of 
progress  to  open  wide  their  hearts  and  minds  to  such 
influences,  and  to  such  only,  as  seek  and  tend  to 
promote  the  incoming  of  the  long  predicted  day  of 
international  federation.  May  the  Divine  Will  be 
done  on  earth,  in  us  and  thru  us,  even  as  it  is  already 
done  in  the  Celestial  Heaven,  is  the  earnest  faithful, 
workful  prayer  of  all  who  align  themselves  uncom¬ 
promisingly  on  the  side  of  the  hosts  of  light  who  are 
the  true  directors  of  our  growing  planet’s  heaven¬ 
ward  progress. 


BITTER  QUIZ. 

QUESTIONS  ON  TWELVE  LESSONS  ON 
MEDIUMSHIP. 

This  is  not  a  lesson  in  the  sense  that  the  preceding 
twelve  lessons  are  such,  nor  is  it  in  any  sense  a  review 
of  those  lessons.  The  questions  asked  are  to  be 
answered  by  the  student  after  he  has  gained  a  gen¬ 
eral  outline  idea  of  the  contents  of  the  lessons  and 
feels  desirous  of  testing  his  understanding  of  what 
they  contain.  It  is  not  profitable  in  any  high  degree, 
except  as  a  simple  memory-exercise,  to  refer  to  the 
exact  words  of  any  lesson  and  repeat  these  precise 
quotations  as  answers  to  these  questions,  for  in  that 
case  the  student  would  display  no  ability  to  couch 
familiar  ideas  in  language  of  his  own,  nor  would 
he  show  that  he  had  any  individual  understanding 
of  the  views  he  was  expressing  in  some  one  else’s 
phraseology.  In  order  that  every  person  who  studies 
this  Course  of  Lessons  may  become  familiar  enough 
with  the  views  expressed  therein  to  be  able  to  easily 
undergo  a  cross-examination  at  random,  no  attempt 
has  been  made  to  arrange  the  following  questions  in 
any  consecutive  order.  On  the  contrary,  the  ques¬ 
tions  are  asked  abruptly  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
students  an  opportunity  to  test  their  own  familiarity 
with  the  general  scope  of  the  teaching  they  have 
studied.  No  question  is  asked  in  the  entire  1 00 
which  is  not  answered  clearly  in  one  or  other  of  the 
twelve  lessons. 

Entirely  apart  from  any  special  value  which  the 
lessons  may  or  may  not  possess  as  explanatory  es¬ 
says,  this  quiz  will  be  found  extremely  helpful  to  all 
who  take  advantage  of  it,  because  it  affords  an  ex¬ 
cellent  opportunity  for  cultivating  the  good  mental 
habit  of  grasping  and  holding  ideas  in  substance 
altogether  apart  from  memorizing  the  exact  word- 
124 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUM5HIP 


125 


ing  of  a  speech  book.  It  is  recommended  that  the 
student  write  out  his  own  answers  in  his  own  words 
and  subsequently  compare  these  answers  with  the 
working  of  the  lessons  to  see  how  far  he  has  in¬ 
telligently  digested  what  they  contain  and  advocate. 

As  the  lessons  are  by  no  means  finally  exhaustive 
many  a  student  may,  through  employment  of  this 
Quiz,  make  many  valuable  additions  to  them  and 
produce  a  set  of  lessons  of  his  own  far  superior  to 
these,  which  are  not  sent  forth  as  authoritative  dicta, 
but  only  as  helps  to  seekers  after  useful  knowledge 
concerning  the  great  question  of  MEDIUMSHIP,  a 
term  which  can  properly  cover  a  far  wider  field 
than  any  that  has  yet  been  satisfactorily  traversed. 

The  author  of  this  Course  of  Instruction  particu¬ 
larly  desires  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  object 
of  its  production  is  mainly  to  assist  students  to  think 
for  themselves  and  thereby  further  the  development 
of  their  own  individuality,  so  that  when  approaching 
the  intricate  Psychic  Problem  which  so  many  earnest 
truthseekers  are  now  resolutely  tackling,  they  may 
not  yield  ready  submission  to  any  attempted  explan¬ 
ations  they  may  chance  to  hear,  neither  be  frightened 
off  the  field  of  investigation  by  scarecrow  utterances 
concerning  “danger  ”,  but  set  themselves  calmly, 
honestly  and  fearlessly  to  work  to  the  extent  of  their 
ability  to  obey  the  wise  injunction  “Prove  all  things; 
hold  fast  that  which  is  good,”  an  injunction  impos¬ 
sible  to  follow  unless  one  is  free  to  investigate  all 
subjects  impartially  and  in  the  midst  of  all  sur¬ 
roundings  maintain  a  placid  mind. 

W.  J.  COLVILLE. 


126 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


100  QUESTIONS  ON  12  LESSONS  ON  MEDIUMSHIP 

Asked  by  the  Author. 

1.  What  do  you  understand  by  simple  Mediumship? 

2.  What  may  rightly  be  termed  special  Mediumship? 

3.  Does  Mediumship  necessitate  the  subjugation  of  one 
mind  to  another? 

4.  What  is  meant  by  spontaneous  Mediumship? 

5.  Is  there  any  logical  connection  between  Inspiration 
and  Control? 

6.  What  do  you  understand  by  Clairvoyance? 

7.  How  would  you  define  Clairaudience? 

8.  What  definition  can  you  give  of  Clairsentience? 

9.  How  do  you  define  Psychometry;  whence  is  the  term 
derived? 

10.  What  do  you  understand  by  Prophecy? 

1  I.  What  sort  of  person  is  a  Prophet  or  Prophetess? 

12.  Is  prophesying  equivalent  to  fortunetelling? 

13.  What  do  you  think  about  Healing  Mediumship? 

1 4.  Does  Mediumship  interfere  with  rightful  self-asser¬ 
tion? 

15.  Is  there  any  connection  between  Mediumship  and 
Hypnotism  ? 

1 6.  What  attitude  is  it  right  and  reasonable  to  take  to¬ 
ward  unseen  entities? 

1  7.  Do  you  consider  all  mediumistic  experiences  proofs 
of  Spirit-communion? 

1  8.  What  ideas  have  you  of  Sub-consciousness  or  the 
Subjective  Mind? 

1  9.  Can  you  differentiate  Super-consciousness  from  Sub- 
consciousness? 

20.  Where  do  you  think  the  Spirit-World  is  situated? 

21.  Is  all  communion  with  the  Spirit-World  conscious  and 
intelligent? 

22.  What  do  you  think  primarily  determines  our  relation 
with  the  Unseen? 

23.  What  is  your  concept  of  the  Law  of  Attraction? 

24.  What  part  should  our  Will  play  in  regulating  our 
Mediumship  ? 

25.  What  is  the  effect  of  Thought  upon  Mediumship? 

26.  Give  a  clear  definition  of  Will  and  Thought  as  dis¬ 
tinct  actors? 

27.  Can  you  determine  what  you  will  attract  to  you 
psychically? 

28.  Can  you  derive  information  from  spiritual  sources 
while  asleep? 

29.  What  and  Where  is  the  Astral  Plane? 

30.  Have  you  any  clear  idea  of  spiritual  relationships? 

31.  Do  we  necessarily  associate  spiritually  with  earthly 
companions? 

32.  What  do  you  think  chiefly  determines  spiritual  af¬ 
finity  ? 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


127 


33.  Define  consociation  os  distinct  from  association? 

34.  Is  Mediumistic  likely  to  follow  the  bent  of  natural  in¬ 
clinations? 

35.  Can  mediumistic  abilities  be  wisely  cultivated;  if  so, 
how? 

36.  Has  bodily  health  any  effect  on  mediumship? 

37.  Has  mental  health  any  influence  on  mediumship? 

38.  Has  moral  character  any  effect  on  mediumship? 

39.  What  is  necessary  to  constitute  a  person  a  Physical 
Medium  ? 

40.  What  temperament  is  essential  for  Mental  Medium- 
ship  ? 

41.  Has  food  any  influence  on  mediumship? 

42.  Has  wearing  apparel  any  effect  on  mediumship? 

43.  Have  colors  any  effect  on  mediumship? 

44.  Has  music  any  influence  on  mediumship? 

45.  Have  Works  of  Art  any  effect  on  mediumship? 

46.  Is  Poetry  akin  to  Mediumship? 

47.  Has  climate  any  effect  on  mediumship? 

48.  Is  an  outdoor  life  conducive  to  mediumistic  devel¬ 
opment  of  any  sort? 

49.  Have  Developing  Circles  any  useful  end  to  serve? 

50.  If  Developing  Circles  are  formed,  how  should  they 
be  conducted? 

51.  What  attitude  should  a  mediumistic  person  take  to¬ 
ward  surroundings? 

52.  What  is  your  idea  of  Telepathy  or  Mental  Telegraphy  ? 

53.  Does  mediumship  include  telepathic  experiences? 

54.  Can  we  be  influenced  by  our  friends  unknowingly; 
if  so,  how? 

55.  Can  we  be  influenced  against  our  determined  Will? 

56.  What  are  the  safeguards  of  mediumship? 

5  7.  How  should  we  judge  the  value  of  communications? 

58.  What  is  the  best  time  for  psychic  development? 

59.  What  are  the  best  places  for  psychic  development? 

60.  Are  we  often  influenced  spiritually  while  we  are 
sleeping? 

61.  Can  we  learn  to  regulate  our  Dreams? 

62.  Can  you  discriminate  between  a  psychic  vision  and  a 
memory-picture? 

63.  Give  some  clear  idea  of  Psychic  Revelation  as  dis¬ 
tinct  from  Memory. 

64.  What  mental  attitude  is  most  favorable  when  consult¬ 
ing  a  medium? 

65.  Are  there  dangers  connected  with  mediumship? 

66.  If  there  are  dangers,  how  can  we  best  avoid  them? 

67.  Have  you  any  thought  about  Obsession? 

68.  Is  it  ever  necessary  to  yield  to  unpleasant  influences? 

69.  How  would  you  get  rid  of  psychic  annoyances? 

70.  If  you  are  a  medium  and  also  a  mental  healer,  how 
do  you  function? 


128 


LAWS  OF  MEDIUMSHIP 


71.  Have  you  any  clear  thoughts  on  Inspirational  Speak¬ 
ing? 

72.  What  is  your  idea  of  Automatic  Writing? 

73.  Have  you  any  theory  accounting  for  Spirit-Material¬ 
ization  ? 

74.  Have  you  any  definite  idea  of  Human  Atmosphere 
or  Aura? 

75.  How  do  we  generate  our  auric  belts  and  how  do  they 
protect  us? 

76.  How  should  mediumistic  children  be  dealt  with? 

7  7.  Do  mediums  attract  the  spirit  friends  of  those  who 
apply  to  them? 

78.  What  is  the  relative  power  of  enlightened  and  un¬ 
enlightened  spirits? 

79.  Can  you  explain  Hauntings  and  other  uncanny  phe¬ 
nomena  ? 

80.  Is  mediumship  of  any  practical  value  in  a  life-career? 

81.  Should  we  seek  to  repress  mediumship? 

82.  Can  we  rightfully  employ  mediumship  in  business? 

83.  Is  it  ever  lawful  to  use  mediumship  as  a  detective 
force? 

84.  What  are  the  consequences  of  seeking  spirit-com¬ 
munion  to  harm  others? 

85.  Need  we  ever  be  afraid  of  unseen  influences  if  we 
desire  righteousness? 

86.  Has  mediumship  any  connection  with  Insanity,  when 
it  is  abnormal? 

87.  How  would  you  set  to  work  to  regulate  disorderly 
mediumship  ? 

88.  Can  a  medium  be  a  highly  individualized  man  or 
woman  ? 

89.  Are  mediumistic  experiences  consistent  with  Self 
reliance  ? 

90.  Have  religious  ceremonies  any  effect  on  mediumship? 

91.  Is  Yoga  practice  helpful  in  regulating  mediumship? 

92.  Is  mediumship  universal  or  particular,  or  is  it  both? 

93.  Has  mediumship  any  part  to  play  in  international 
affairs? 

94.  Can  mediumship  be  proved  of  service  in  abolishing 
warfare? 

95.  Has  education  any  influence  on  mediumship? 

96.  Can  there  be  successful  training  grounds  for  mediums? 

97.  Is  mediumship  subject-to  law,  or  is  it  purely  erratic? 

98.  How  can  we  control  sensitiveness  if  we  have  suffered 
from  it? 

99.  Give  some  sound  practical  advice  to  mediums  who 
are  unsuccessful. 

Sum  up  the  philosophy  of  the  1 2  Lessons. 


100. 


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